The Separation
by AvA-181
Summary: Ch 5 FINALLY UP! Chapter 1 also changed. This is the sequel to Plan A.v.A., a season 5 fanfic. Megabyte is fully functioing and now has a new tool to carry out the hunt.
1. Default Chapter

Time Table: Our Time ReBoot time 

Minute: nano

Hour: milisec

Day: Second

Week: cycle

Month: minute

Year: hour

The Separation. Chapter 1: Down Time 

They stood in one corner of the diner, whispering amongst themselves, watching her. Just when they thought that the past minute couldn't get any stranger, it had. Before them now was one of the most complex programs that had ever been developed. It had been designed to fulfill a very important task : to seek out viral entities, to rewrite their file code, and render them non viral. As they watched this program, explanations for the current circumstances seemed to be few and far between. By all programming logic, it was impossible. Game logic was different, but still, it was incredible. Though no one knew exactly how it had happened or why, it had. Now this complex, important, and powerful program was there, in front of their eyes, sitting in the body of a child.

"Well Sugah, what do ya think?" Mouse spoke to Bob but couldn't turn her eyes away from the yellow skinned girl with dark blue hair. She had developed the A.v.A. program but had never imagined anything like this was possible. 

"What if its a trick. Something Megabyte did." Matrix looked at the smiling, blue-haired child as she spun on the bar stool and giggled. 

"I doubt that Sparky." AndrAIa smirked. "Besides, look at her." AndrAIa laughed as the young girl spun again with a giggle. "She's just a kid." 

"That's just it, " Dot finally took her eyes off the girl. "She shouldn't be here." 

"But she is." Bob continued to watch as the girl hopped off of the bar stool and skipped over to one of the booths with a giant smile on her blue colored lips. He smiled and laughed as she took a straw and examined it. "She's a child. Its as if she was just formatted. Just watch her Dot. Everything is new to her." 

"I know Bob." Dot had to agree. She was a child. Dot looked over and had to laugh to herself as the girl began to balance the straw on her nose. "But we still need to find out exactly what she is." 

"Why don't you just ask her." Ray chimed in. "She is an AI after all, and we know she can talk. She probably knows more..." He cut of his words as the girl lost her balance and began to topple over. Baud flew over and caught her before she hit the ground. "You alright Lil-Bit?" 

"I am undamaged. Thank you!" The girl giggled and looked at Ray through her floppy pink bangs. "I am just not used to these things yet" She wiggled her bright yellow-skinned legs a bit then looked down at Baud and giggled. 

"Oh! Hello!" She said to the Baud. After Baud responded with a single beep, she grinned and touched Baud with her hand. After a few moments she looked up at Ray and laughed. 

"Well, I guess so then." Ray laughed back at her. 

"What?" Mouse raised an eyebrow. "She didn't say anything." 

"Actually luv, she said a whole lot." Ray smirked back at the girl. "No Lil-Bit, they don't." 

"Don't what?" Bob looked between the two, confused. 

"Speak PNI…program neural interface. She can speak to me by connecting to my program interface." Ray explained after a smirk at all of the confused faces. "Its hard to explain, really, unless you can do it." Ray shrugged and turned back to the girl. 

"Okay." The girl laughed after a few moments. She hopped off of Baud and headed closer to the group. "Ray said you wanted information from me?" 

"A.v.A. , we just have a few questions…well more than a few actually." Dot began, not really sure of how to approach this problem. 

"A.v.A." The girl thought for a moment then frowned. "That's the name of my program matrix." 

"Something wrong with that name?" Bob raised an eyebrow. 

"Well it is kind of…technical." AndrAIa noted. 

"How about just Ava?" Mouse shrugged and looked at the child. 

"Ava." The child repeated as she sounded out the letters to her program matrix in a different voice pattern. "A-vah. Okay!" She looked up as the grin returned to her lips. 

"Alright, Ava it is." Dot gave the girl a smile. "Well Ava, I suppose the first question would have to be…" Dot didn't want to hurt the girls feelings, if she had them. "What are you, exactly?" 

"I am Ava." The girl shrugged, then stopped and looked up at Ray. "Oh…I get it. Thank you Ray." 

"No problem Lil-Bit." 

'I wish you two would quit doing that…" Matrix said as he raised an eyebrow with a slight frown at being left out of part of the conversation. 

"I am A.v.A." The girls voice changed slightly, as if reading a text file within her programming. "Anti-viral Agent, Keytool program 181alpha. My function is to seek out viral entities, rewrite their file codes, and render them non-viral." The girl blinked slightly, as if recovering from a slight haze, then giggled. "That's a long name!" 

"So…your still the program we created?" Mouse raised an eyebrow. 

"Yes! I am a program. My function is to seek out viral..." Ava began again. 

"Hold on Sugah!" Mouse smiled and bent down to the girl. "But you're a sprite…I mean programs don't just get off their binary and walk away." 

"That is true…" The girl scratched her head. "Ray…I do not know how to explain. I am lost." 

"That's alright Lil-Bit. Its something I don't even try to explain myself." Ray rustled Ava's pink and blue hair with a smile then looked back up at the group. 

"As a search engine, Ava and I are not all that different, program-setup wise, I mean." He watched as Mouse slightly downcast her eyes. Everyone in the group had known about the reality of he and Baud except Mouse. The explanation he had given her during the game hadn't exactly gone well either. 

"I was designed with this physical interface, however." Ray continued. "Ava, wasn't. Basically, she is still the program A.v.A., but the game took her PD and her AI and created a physical interface. Why it did that could be any number of reasons. Your guess on that is as good as mine." 

"Well, all we do know for sure is that it did happen, and she's here." Bob looked over at Ava who had occupied herself during Ray's explanation. She was peering into the reflective surface of a napkin dispenser, making faces at herself. 

"Alright. Mouse, how does that explanation fit with your understandings?" Dot wanted as many opinions on this as possible. She still hadn't cast aside Matrix's idea of Ava being a possible "gift" from Megabyte. 

"Well." Mouse looked up at the group again. During the game, Ray had attempted to give an explanation of search engine programs and physical interfaces. That explanation had told her things that she hadn't thought possible. Now her understandings and knowledge of things felt small and insignificant. "Anything's possible." was all she could think of to say. 

"That's for sure." AndrAIa hadn't been able to take her eyes off of Ava. She was so much fun to watch. Ava looked at everything as if it was brand new. She had one of the most complex programs and the body of a version 1-0, but her mind was a cross between a computer interface and a newly formatted basic. 

"Ava?" Dot looked back over at the girl making faces at the napkin dispenser. Ava looked up and gave Dot the same overly large grin as before. 

"Yes, Dot?" Ava's bright blue eyes looked up at Dot through the pink strands of hair that swept over her forehead. 

"I have another very important question, and I was hoping that you could answer it for me. If you get lost again, you can tell Ray and he can explain, ok?" Dot asked slowly. 

"Okay." She grinned again with a tilt of her head. 

"Thank you." Dot gave Ava a small smile before continuing. "I need to know what went wrong with your first test subject, Megabyte. I need to know why you were unable to cure him…to fix his code after you infected him." 

"I never infected him." Ava looked at Dot with a tilted head and raised eyebrow. 

"What? But we saw his weakened state!" Matrix looked at Ava with a raised eyebrow of his own. 

"My program made the transfer, but I never infected Megabyte." Ava wrinkled her nose then looked up at Ray. 

"I don't understand. What's the difference between your programming transfer and you infecting the virus?" Dot was confused by the child's lack of explanation. 

"Hold on a second Dot." Ray looked at Ava to receive the PNI transfer. "Whoa, slow down Lil-Bit!." Ray couldn't believe how fast she was processing. "Alright, I think I understand." Ray turned back to everyone, his head spinning slightly from the rate of the information exchange. "When Megabyte droned you Dot, Ava's anti-viral program did infect him, but Ava, the AI, didn't." 

"So, the program that transferred over was only partial!" Bob understood, sort of. 

"And without the AI, the program wasn't able to learn and adjust to Megabyte's files as they fought back!" Mouse nearly hit herself for not seeing that sooner. 

"But why didn't the AI transfer?" AndrAIa chimed in. 

"I don't know…" Dot stopped suddenly and then looked down at Ava's PDi. "Ava, what is the first thing you remember? Was it the lab when we first tested you, after the game, when?" 

"Dot, what's this all about?" Bob placed a hand on her shoulder. He could almost see the files in Dot's head as the began to process a new idea. 

"Well…." Ava chewed on her bottom lip as she stopped to think. She twisted her ankle behind her for a moment, then stopped. "Well I do remember the lab…but it was dark and cold….but I did not know then that it was cold. I…I could not see or feel…or really understand anything." She looked down for a moment, that odd tinge of adult like quality returning to her voice. 

"I was alone, but I did not know I was alone. I had no…understanding." She paused to look up at Dot. "Then suddenly I understood." 

"When, Ava?" Dot placed a hand on her young girl's shoulder. 

"When I was placed here." She placed her hand over her PDi. "and then when I was placed here." She pointed to Dot's icon slowly and chewed lightly on her bottom lip, as if in deep contemplation. 

"You mean when I downloaded you onto my own PID?" Dot looked down at Ava's hand as it touched the icon. 

"Yes…downloaded." Ava nodded simply. "When you registered me, I became aware." 

"Well that explains how Megabyte lucked out." Matrix said, looking down at Ava. 

"Of course." Dot stood upright. "How could I have been so basic!" She hit her head and rolled her eyes. 

"What?" Bob raised an eyebrow. 

"Of course the AI wouldn't transfer to Megabyte! I registered it onto the PDi! I registered the AI!" Dot shook her head and almost started to laugh at her own mistake. 

"Bob, when Ava's AI became registered with Mainframe, it became permanently imprinted onto that PDi. There was no way it could have transferred to Megabyte." Mouse explained. 

"I cant believe I made such a basic mistake!" Dot grumbled. 

"Dot…" 

"Yes, Ava." Dot looked down at her. 

"You are not mad at me are you?" Ava began to chew on her bottom lip again, now assured in her limited understanding that she had failed her prime function. 

"Oh, no Ava!" Dot knelt down beside her and placed the hand back on her shoulder. "I'm mad at myself. Its not your fault that you weren't able to cure Megabyte, its mine. I'm just mad at myself for making the mistake." 

"Dot, " Ava placed her hand over Dots. "I…I am happy you made the mistake." 

"I…" Dot looked down at the young sprite's eyes as they sparkled with the simplicity and truth that only a child can have. "I am glad too." 

"Okay." Ava gave the same tilted head grin, as if it was in her programming to do so. 

************ 

"When will we be able to begin, good doctor?" Megabyte stared strait ahead as he laid down on the cold steel table in the P.O. lab room, awaiting the doctor to complete his proposed treatment. The thoughts of all that had happened over the last cycle filled his mind as his body continued to fight what remained of Anti Viral Agent, or A.v.A. . The momentary lapses he had experienced in his viral nature filled most of his thoughts, but the new addition to the Main Frame program registration matrix made a small sneering smile come across his lips. The fact that he had survived and overcome all that those sprites had thrown at him made him laugh arrogantly. He had been victorious again. A little worse for wear, but victorious non the less. Now the hunt would continue, and he now had a new way to complete his plan. 

"Ve will begin momentarily." The doctor spoke over his shoulder as he began running the initialization sequence for the binary purge. 

"Doctor," Megabyte keep is deep green eyes focused on the darkness above him. "I want you to save all purged data." 

"You vant me to save ze anti-viral program, Lord Meg-n-byte-n?" The Doctor raised his brow. 

"Do I have to repeat myself?" Megabyte rolled his eyes, not wanting to explain what he had in mind. Not yet. 

"No, of course not!" The doctor jumped slightly and turned to reconfigure the purge program. "It vill take longer, but it can be done." 

"Wonderful." Megabyte barely spoke in an auditable tone. He had a cure for one of the problems that ailed him. All he needed now was a way to rid himself of this guardian infection that appeared every now and then. He new exactly when it appeared, but he refused to let his mind wander back to those moments of viral lapse. Every time they did, he found himself lingering on something that deeply disgusted the pit of his viral stomach. 

*********** 

"Bob, what are you doing?" Dot said through a laugh as she watched Bob and Ava go at a thumb war. 

"I am teaching Ava what the word play means." Bob looked up at Dot with his usual innocently boyish grin. 

"Well you could at least teach her how to play it the right way." Matrix suggested. 

"What do you mean?" Bob raised an eyebrow. 

"Your elbow is way to high." Matrix pointed out. "It always was." 

"Oh, so that's how you always beat me?" Bob smirked. 

"That and your weak thumbs." Matrix gruffed out a small laugh. 

"Weak thumbs!" Bob laughed then looked down at Ava. "Do I have weak thumbs?" His question only caused Ava to giggle at the funny perplexed look on his face. 

"See!" Matrix used Ava's giggle as a sign that he was right. He had relaxed a bit as he watched Ava's actions. She didn't seem threatening, but he still had tinges of uncertainty in the back of his mind. "Ow!" Matrix faked a hurt look as AndrAIa hit his shoulder. 

"Let them have their fun." AndrAIa chided. "Quit being a pain in the ascii." 

"Too easy." Ray laughed, refraining from making a comment on just how much of a pain in the ascii Matrix was. "Ow!" Ray flinched as Mouse thwapped him on the shoulder. He gave her a goofy innocent grin. "What?" 

"You know what." Mouse said through a small smile. 

"Now if we could continue without further interruptions." Bob spoke in a serious tone that made Dot laugh again. Bob lingered happily in Dots laugh for a moment before turning back to the giggling Ava. "Ok. So you put your hand like this, and then you…" 

"Bob!" Enzo called out Bob's name as he rushed through the doors of the diner. He ran toward Bob for his usual greeting. "Bob! We won! We actually won! I mean, I didn't have any doubts, but for a while there, it was well, close you know and.." His words stopped as he forced his legs to hit the brakes in his mad dash for Bob when he caught site of Ava. 

"Hello!" Ava chimed through her wide grin with a wave of a small hand. 

"Whoa! Pixelatious! " Enzo blinked a few times. "Who are you? Where did you come from?" He turned to Bob. "What's going on Bob?" 

"Whoa, slow down your processes!" Bob smirked. "Enzo, this is Ava." 

"Hello!" Ava repeated with the same small wave and large grin, as if repeating the same task. 

"Hi." Enzo said as he surveyed Ava for a moment. She seemed a little on the basic side to him, but it was still someone his age. 

"Enzo, where is Phong?" Dot looked up from her planner. 

"Oh! Hey sis!" Enzo then looked behind him. "Well he was right behind me…" 

"My son, " Phong slowly opened the doors to the diner in a short-breathed voice. "slow down." 

"There he is!" Enzo smiled. 

"We should have you in for a check up soon." Phong caught his breath for a moment. "You seem to be running just a bit on the fast side." 

"Hi Phong." Bob waved slightly. 

"Oh, Bob! Good, where is this thing that had to wait until we were back at the…" Phong raised an eyebrow, and his jaw opened wide as he caught sight of the small smiling yellow sprite beside Bob. "Oh I see…" 

************ 

"Ava…" Phong held the small scanner up to Ava's head as she continued to look at whatever she found interesting. 

"Yes, Phong?" Ava looked between Matrix and Enzo for a moment. 

"In order for me to complete these scans, my child, " Phong tried to keep the scanner aligned with her head. "you must hold still." 

"Okay." Ava turned back to Phong with the grin that seemed forever plastered on her blue lips. 

"Well so far, the sectors are still quiet." Bob stepped out from behind the counter where he had talked to several of the bynomes from the sectors. 

"Have you told Turbo of our new addition, darlin?" Mouse looked over to Bob as he approached. 

"Not yet." Bob shook his head. "I don't want to give him another reason to force his way into the system. Besides, I don't exactly know what to tell him." Bob glanced over to watch Phong try and run a scan on the ever fidgety Ava. 

"Alright then sugah." Mouse just shrugged lightly, not entirely fond of the idea of Turbo and the guardian forces coming into the system to do things their own way. 

"AndrAIa and I are going back to the bunkers to check up on the troops." Matrix called out to Bob on his way out the door. 

"Good idea." Bob nodded and gave a small wave to them as the door closed. 

"Please hold still my child." Phong sighed. 

"Okay." Ava said exactly the same as before with the same smile. 

"How's it going?" Bob walked up beside Phong, Enzo, and Ava. 

"Very slow, my son." Phong shook his head as Ava moved again. "But I want to show you something. Mouse, you would do well to see this." 

"Alright." Mouse stood up from her seat next to Ray at the bar and walked over with Ray following close behind. 

"Find something out?" Ray questioned. 

"I think so." Phong opened a vid window and displayed a complex binary combination. "Ava, what do you make of this?" 

"That is a secondary bypass of a program matrix caused by a series of interrupting links, possibly virus or system malfunction related." Ava blinked a few times and turned back to Phong. 

"She's right." Mouse shook her head in disbelief. 

"Very good Ava." Phong nodded, then picked up a spoon from the diner counter. "And what is this, my child?" 

"That is…" Ava paused and furrowed her brow for a moment, then giggled when she saw her warped reflection in the spoon. "shiny!" 

"What?" Enzo started to laugh. "She doesn't know what a spoon is?" 

"Exactly, my son." Phong nodded. 

"So, that means…what exactly?" Bob raised an eyebrow. 

"Well it means that Ava still has all the information we programmed her with such as program sequences, viral information, mechanical knowledge, ect." Mouse replied. "Everything that we thought might be necessary for the A.v.A. program to complete its primary function." 

"But since she wasn't programmed with unnecessary information, such as what a spoon is, she must learn it for herself." Phong eyed Bob to see if he understood. 

"Alright." Bob nodded slightly. 

"So she's like a basic 0-0?" Enzo said through the remains of his laughter. 

"Yes." Phong nodded as he adjusted his glasses. He looked back up at Ava who had occupied herself with looking at herself in the warped image that the spoon presented. 

"Just means she's got some learning to do." Ray smirked as Ava's attention switched from the spoon to a glass. 

"A lot of learning to do." Enzo started to laugh again as Ava put the glass up to her eye and looked through it with a large laugh at the distorted view of the world it gave. 

"And who better to teach her?" Bob put a hand on Enzo's shoulder. 

"What!" Enzo looked up at Bob. "She's way to basic, Bob! I cant process that slow!" 

"As a favor for me?" Bob smiled down at Enzo. 

"Well…" Enzo sighed at looked back at Ava who set the glass down and grinned up at him. After a slight roll of the eyes and a laugh, he nodded. "Alright." 

"Thanks, Enzo." Bob stood back up and looked around, realizing that someone was missing. "Where's Dot?" 

"Having a bit of downtime, sugah." Mouse answered after a sip of an energy shake and a yawn. 

"Doctors orders." Phong smiled up at Bob. 

"Same thing you should be doing, luv." Ray crossed his arms and looked at Mouse's less than energetic state. 

"I'm fine." Mouse replied simply. 

"One question." Bob stated. 

"Yes, my son?" Phong tilted his head slightly. 

"Which one of you took Dot's organizer away from her?" Bob smirked as the group all exchanged glances. 

"We seem to have made an error." Phong looked up at Bob with a small smirk of his own and shrugged. 

"Ill get it away from her," Bob rolled his eyes. "and make sure she is following the doctor's orders." Bob shook his head again in a small laugh and headed downstairs. 

********* 

"That sector was clear." Hack spoke to Slash as they headed out of Baudway on their way to Beverly Hills. 

"So was Floating Point." Slash added. 

"One thing I do not compute." 

"What would that be, buddy?" 

"Bob could of checked this out through a vid window." 

"So? Maybe he wanted us to check, since we are so reliable." 

"Maybe." Hack raised his brow. "Or maybe it is just busy work." 

"Why would he do that?" Slash returned the look. 

"I have no idea." 

"You are just being silly." 

"Am not." 

"Are too. You do this a lot!" 

"Do not!" 

"Sure! Remember that time…" 

"Must you always bring up past experiences?" Hack frowned. 

"Only making an example." Slash insisted. "Like that time when.." 

"The things I put up with." Hack sped down to get a closer look at Beverly Hills. 

"Well, someone has a null in their gears this morning." Slash followed. 

*********** 

"Here are the reports you requested, sir!" Tiggs handed Matrix the vid pad and saluted. 

"Thanks." Matrix nodded and gave a small salute of his own after taking the pad. Tiggs smiled and walked off to attend to his CPU repairs. 

"Well?" AndrAIa looked over Matrix's large arm to get a view of the data pad. 

"We actually didn't do too bad." Matrix nodded in approval with a small smile. "They should be able to attempt a secondary strike by the end of the second." 

"That soon?" AndrAIa questioned, wondering if Matrix was being a little optimistic in his hopes to attack Megabyte as soon as possible. 

"Well ya." Matrix showed her the data pad. "See for yourself. We only have a few things to fix." 

"Sparky…" AndrAIa had to stop herself from smirking as she pressed the 'next page' button on the pad. There were actually four pages of things that needed to be fixed. 

"Oh." Matrix sighed, then smirked down at AndrAIa. "Ok, beginning of next second then." 

"Sparky…" AndrAIa put her hands on her hips. 

"What?" Matrix gave her an innocent look, then sighed with a sagging of the shoulders when she wouldn't give up in her resolve. "Alright. Don't worry, I wont send them out prematurely." 

"Good." AndrAIa took her hands off of her hips and wrapped them around one of his massive arms. "Then we can relax for a bit." 

"I had a feeling you were going to say the 'R' word." Matrix smirked and wrapped his arms around her waist. 

"Is relaxing every once in a while so bad?" AndrAIa asked honestly as she looked up into his eyes. 

"Yes." Matrix answered truthfully. 

"Oh." AndrAIa lowed her eyes slightly. 

"Except when I'm relaxing with you." Matrix smiled as she looked back up to him. Being romantic wasn't his forte, but he was trying to improve. 

"Good answer." AndrAIa laughed and tapped his nose playfully. It was the small moments like these that the love she held for him was unmistakable. She wished there were more of these times. 

*********** 

Bob made his way slowly into the apartment below the diner. Most of the lights in the place were turned off, and the soft morning light crept into the living room through a small half window. The light glimmered off of the various objects on the shelves of the tidy living space, illuminating various pictures and other memorable items from a past that seemed so distant. Bob smiled as he picked up a small framed photograph from the talent show for Enzo's, well Matrix now, 1-0 birthday. Dot seemed so happy in that picture, and she had been so amazing in that dress. That, however, was back before their world was turned upside down by the Web Wars. Now it was a rare thing to see Dot that happy. Bob sighed and quietly placed the picture frame back on the shelf. 

He turned his eyes back to the dimly lit apartment to see Dot quietly asleep on the couch, her organizer firmly held by a hand in her lap. He smiled and shook his head at the sight as he grabbed a blanket off of a chair and walked over to her. Kneeling down in front of her, he slowly inched the organizer from her hand and set it on the coffee table. A small beep from the planner broke the silence of the room, causing bob to flinch and Dot to let out a soft moan . She stirred lightly, but did not awaken. Bob breathed a sigh of relief and stuck his tongue out at the planner in protest before lightly draping the blanket over Dot. Frowning slightly as the couch made a creaking noise, he sat down beside her. He was content just to sit there and watch her forever. It was amazing to him how different she looked when she slept. The calmness that sleep brought to her face served to enhance the beauty that he saw in her. When she was asleep, it was like they were back to when the photograph was taken, back to the days when things were alright. Now they had been through so much together, and despite all that had come between them, they were still together. Bob believed that nothing could ever change that. No amount of betrayal, shame, hardships, or mistakes could ever destroy the love he had for the sleeping beauty before him. 

A slight stir from Dot brought Bob's thoughts back to the living room he sat in. As her movements got stronger and the look on her face began to contort, he realized that she was no longer dreaming. A nightmare had made its way into their perfect moment, but he was there this time to take her away from it. 

"Dot?" Bob spoke softly as he gently grasped her shoulder. "Dot, wake up." 

"No…please…" Dot twisted her head away in her dream state as the nightmare fought to keep her in its clutches. 

"Dot?" Bob called her name again to try and wake her from her panic. Another nudge from his hands on her shoulders finally brought her eyes open to the apartment. Still dazed within the confines of the nightmare, her eyes widened as she caught site of Bob and brought her hands up to guard against him. 

"No! Get away!" She flinched as her hazy mind tried to discern nightmare from reality. Her confused mind told her it was the monster again, here to take her from all that she cared about. As her eyes finally looked back up into his eyes, however, her heart told her the truth in the situation. 

"Dot, its just me." Bob said softly as he gently lowered her arms from her face. "You were just having a bad dream. Its me." 

"I know." She said slowly, her eyes still focused on his. Megabyte may have been able to replicate the color of Bob's eyes, but he couldn't replicate the depth and sincerity that they held. If only she had realized that before, none of this mess would have happened. She swore she would never make that mistake again, and she would never hurt him like that again. She sucked in a sob from the horrific nature of the dream that had consumed her and leaned against his chest. "I know, Bob." 

Spoken words about the comfort that they brought to each other were unnecessary. She curled up tightly against him as his arms wrapped around the warmth of her body. His lips kissed to top of her forehead lovingly before he rested his cheek on top of her head. Just watching her sleep had made him feel content. Now, holding her in his arms and listening to her breath in the silence of the room, he felt his whole world come together. Life became simple and seemed to exist for only that moment. Closing his eyes, he wanted nothing more out of life than that moment with her. No matter what had happened in the past or what would happen in the future, nothing could ever take the love that existed in that moment away from them. It was theirs, forever. 

********* 

"My patience is growing thin, heir Doctor." Megabyte felt like had been staring at the gray ceiling of the P.O. lab room forever. The doctor had taken longer than expected to reconfigure the machine so that it could save the purged data. 

"Ya, vone moment, mine heir Meg-n-byte-n." The doctor held up one finger over his shoulder as his other hand pushed a few more buttons. "Alvight, throw ze switch!" 

"Uh." The bunny-footed binome grunted slightly in a nod before hobbling over on his bunny-slipper foot to the switch box. With a small bit of grunting laughter and drool, he threw the switch and the purging machine came to life. 

"Ya! Ve are in busy-ness!" The doctor clapped his hands. 

"Then you are ready to begin?" Megabyte sighed slightly at the doctor's enthusiasm. 

"Ya, my lord." The Doctor turned to Megabyte holding a wire from the machine with a large needle in the end. "Just vone last hook up to you, and ve can begin the purge." 


	2. For Her

Heya folks. I know its been almost forever since i updated this sequil...but real life kina stepped in for a bit. Anyhoo...hope to be writing more now. Hope you like this next installment. Cheers! 

****************************

Chapter 2: **For Her**

Bob closed the door to the below-diner apartment as quietly as possible after one last look at Dot as she slept quietly on the couch. He had drifted off to sleep for a few moments before the thoughts running through his mind reminded him he had a job to do. Those few precious moments with her had only served to strengthen his need to bring a finality this long chapter in his life. Megabyte had been his problem since the beginning, and now it was time he brought an end to this game between the villainous virus and the noble guardian. Noble. Bob laughed slightly and shook his head as he leaned back against the cold surface of the door. Mending, not deletion. His nobility had done more harm than good. If only he had dealt with Megabyte the way a guardian was supposed to deal with a virus in the first place, none of this would have happened. If only he hadn't had this crazy idea of viral code repair in his mind, if only he could follow his guardian training to the letter like the others, if only he had… He paused for a moment in his thoughts and drew in a long and hard breath. The "ifs" were pointless now. It had been done, and now it was time to set things right. For her.

"Hi Phong." Bob spoke in the voice of someone who was trying to hide just how tired he was. He trudged up the last of the stairs and took a look at the empty diner. "Where is everyone?"

"Is Dot getting her rest?" Phong ignored Bob's question for a moment.

"Just as the doctor ordered." Bob nodded with a small smile. "Where is everyone Phong? I'm gone a few nanos and everyone disappears."

"Not exactly, my son." Phong tilted his head up at Bob. "You were gone for more than a few nanos."

"Oh, was I?" Bob raised an eyebrow. 

"Yes. Four milliseconds and twenty-eight nanos to be exact, my son."

"Oh." Bob blinked slightly. Time had seemed so disjointed while he drifted in and out of sleep with Dot in his arms. Sometimes the time seemed to flash by at high speed, and sometimes it seemed to last an eternity. A small smile made its way onto his lips as his mind drifted back to how content he had felt. He blushed slightly as he realized Phong was smiling up at him.

"Time is a funny thing, my child." Phong liked seeing that content expression on Bob's face, if only for a nano. "Sometimes it can make nanos seem like hours, or hours seem like nanos, or cause you to be late to your weekly yoga class." 

"Yes, it can." Bob smirked at the last part. In a strange way, he had relay missed Phong's advice. There were times, in the Web, when he had really needed it. "So where is everyone?"

"Well, lets see." Phong thought for a moment. "Oh, yes. Mouse went to retrieve her ship, and Ray followed her shortly afterwards. Something is up with those two." Phong drifted off into another train of thought for a moment. "Where was I? Oh yes, Matrix and AndrAIa are at the bunker, but you know that already. I know I am forgetting someone…" 

"Enzo and Ava." Bob hinted at Phong.

"Oh yes. Enzo said he wanted to teach Ava how to zip board." Phong shrugged.

"Sure that's safe?" Bob didn't exactly like the idea of the new sprite being out and about with all that was going on.

"You did tell Enzo to each her things." Phong commented.

"Yes I did." Bob nodded lightly. He looked around the quiet and empty diner for a moment before his mind made a decision. It was time to act on the new resolve he had found within himself. "Excuse me for a moment, Phong. I need to make a call." 

******************

"Ok, Ava." Enzo pointed toward Mr. Pearson's dump. "Lets land over there." 

"Okay." Ava flashed him the smile that never seemed to change with a small nod. Enzo landed with ease beside a pile of old energy converters and waited for Ava to make her decent. She had surprised him with how fast she had learned the basics of zip boarding. He had begun to think that her basic outward appearance was masking something far more sophisticated. 

"Woah! You going way to fast to land!" Enzo's warnings were to late as Ava overshot her landing and instead landed right on top of Enzo, her zip board continuing on without her into the pile of converters.

"Oops." Ava giggled down at Enzo as he rolled his eyes. 

"Looks like we need to work on the landing." His last thoughts her not being so basic vanished as the pain in his back started. "Uhm, Ava?"

"Yes, Enzo?" She looked down at him with the usual grin.

"You mind getting off of me?" Enzo huffed under her weight.

"Okay." Ava got up and dusted herself off before heading over to the pile of converters to retrieve her zip board.

"Basics." Enzo sighed with a shake of the head as he rose from the ground. He turned to see where Ava had disappeared to. "We should head back to the diner. Is your zip board okay?"

"Functioning and undamaged." Ava held up the zip board for Enzo's inspection.

"Good, because it's a long walk." Enzo looked among the piles of Mr. Pearson's dump for a moment. He loved exploring the place for small knick-knacks and other items that may be of use. He glanced back at Ava who patently waited with a blank stare. He still wasn't used to the fact that she waited for specific commands before taking action. Programs were mixed up that way he supposed. "I guess we have a few nanos to take a quick look around the place."

"Okay." Ava followed Enzo as he began to weave his way through the piles of junk. It wasn't long before something shiny caught her eye and caused her feet to take a different direction than those of her leader's. 

"Ill take you back here for some learning when we have more time, and when ole Mega jerk is taken care of." Enzo realized that Ava wasn't much of a conversationalist. Teaching her wasn't going to be one of his more enjoyable tasks, he thought. "Do you want to head back now?" He waited for a moment, but received no response. He turned around and realized she was no longer behind him. "Ava?" He rolled his eyes. "Great, just great." 

*********

"Slow down, luv." Ray called out to Mouse as she sped well ahead of him on her zip board. "What's your hurry." 

"I told you that you didn't have ta come along Ray." Mouse rolled her eyes and kept the current pace. 

"And I told you that I wanted to come along." Ray joined her at the side, Baud easily matching the zip board's speed.

"Then quit complaining about the pace." Mouse huffed out in a less than friendly tone of voice. 

"That's it!" Ray sped Baud up and stopped in front of Mouse, blocking her path. Her cold shoulder had given him a frost bite that he was sick of dealing with. "Stop and lets talk for a nano."

"Talk about what, Mr. Interface." Mouse crossed her arms. "I think we've talked enough for one second, sugah." She went around his blockage and continued on at an even greater speed.

"Oh, so its like that now, is it luv?" Ray put his hands on his hips and watched as she sped off. When he received no response from her, he cursed and sped off in the opposite direction. "Fine." 

"Fine." Mouse whispered to herself as she continued on her course toward her ship. She was thankful that Ray hadn't followed her this time, because now she had stinging tears welling up among her strong and angered resolve. 

"Fine. If she wants to be like that, its no binary off'a my code." Ray mumbled under his breath as Baud began to slow down slightly. Ray looked down at the slowing Baud and frowned, being in no mood for games. "What? I'm not going to go back over there and get the cold shoulder from Miss High and Mighty Hacker again." Baud responded by simply turning around in the direction of Mouse. "Forget it. She wants me gone, then I'll be glad to fulfill her wishes. I'm not going to go and beg her to talk to me like some love sick puppy. Besides, she'd probably delete me for begging, she prefers to fight and I…" Ray stopped yelling for a moment and thought about all he had just said. He glanced down at Baud for a moment as it began to head off toward Mouse. Ray sighed softly and nodded as Baud increased its speed. "Thanks." 

********

"Lets just say I've had a change in heart over the past couple of seconds. I'll be awaiting your arrival." As Bob closed the vid window, he drew in a deep and heavy breath. His mind began to race with the decision he had just made as doubt crept in to his thoughts. It seemed the right thing to do now, but something about it bothered his files fiercely. It was almost as if something inside of him was trying to tell him something, but he was so consumed with a desire for finality that he did his best to ignore it. It had been done, and there was no turning back now. The only way was strait ahead and whatever consequences that path brought with it. 

"Bob? What are you doing?" Dot's voice caused Bob's head to spin and his heart to jump inside his chest.

"Dot, your awake." Bob wondered how long she had been standing there, and how much of the conversation she had heard.

"Almost awake." She gave him a small groggy smile and wrapped one arm around his waist. The smile she gave Bob told him that she had just walked into the room.

"I was just giving Turbo an update on our situation." Lying to her tore his files apart, and he had to fight to keep a smile on his lips.

"Alright." Dot smiled softly and leaned her weary head on his chest. "So, where is everyone?"

*********

"Ava?" Enzo called out her name for what seemed the thousandth time as he rounded another pile of junk. This was just his luck. Bob had given him an important task, what seemed an easy one at the time, and he had gone and messed things up. Bob was going to be unhappy with him about this, and Enzo didn't even want to begin to think about the 'lack of responsibility' speech he would get from Dot. 

It just wasn't fair.

Enzo leaned back against a pile of model 4.32 conduct nodes with a heavy sigh. That little basic was going to be nothing but trouble. He glanced up at the sky over head and smirked lightly. At least it wasn't pouring down data. His eye caught something in the distance, but it was to far away to make out. 

"Hello!" Ava popped around the corner of the node pile, causing Enzo to yell slightly and fall over. She grinned innocently down at him as he rose to his feet with a less than happy expression.

"Where in the dell have you been!" Enzo couldn't help but raise his voice, both out of anger and fright. 

"Inspecting the objects." Ava tilted her head, unaware that she had done anything wrong. "I lost my way, but now I have found you, so I guess I am not lost anymore….unless you are lost too. You are not lost are you?"

"Basics…" Enzo rolled his eyes in a huff that resembled his older self. "No, I'm not lost, but I would have been in big trouble if I would have gone back to the diner with out you!" 

"You seem distressed. Are you damaged?" Ava tilted her head the other way followed by a few blank eyed blinks. 

"I'm fine now, but you cant just run off like that!" Enzo raised his arms, hoping that at least a little of hat he was saying to here was getting through.

"Okay." Ava nodded once with a wide grin. "Order understood and processed."

"Wait a nano." Enzo raised an eyebrow. "You mean if I had told you that in the first place you wouldn't have run off?" 

"Affirmative. I am programmed to follow all command protocols from designated Guardians and system protectors without waver." Ava rocked slightly in her movement and she held her hands clasped behind her. 

"All commands?" Enzo gained a small smirk across his lips. He felt a little basic himself for not telling her not to run off in the first place, but after all the trouble she had been he felt he needed a small laugh at something.

"Affirmative." Ava nodded.

"Touch your nose." Enzo's smirk grew as Ava complied and touched her nose. "Stand on one foot." He had to hold in the laugh forming in his stomach as she raised one of her feet off the ground. "Hop around in a circle." Enzo couldn't take it anymore. The sight of Ava, with one hand on her nose and one leg raised hopping in a circle, caused him to fall to the ground in a mad fit of laughter. Ava, unsure of what was funny, began to laugh too. 

"Well, isn't that amusing." The dark voice that came from behind the two children caused Enzo to stop laughing immediately. Ava, however, continued to hop around in a circle. Enzo realized to late what that distant object had been as four ABCs pulled up and surrounded them and the large view screen that displayed an unwelcome face. 

"What do you want, Mega-jerk?" Enzo yelled at the view screen, standing with his chest held high in a defensive posture. 

"Well, not you." Megabyte chuckled lightly and pointed behind the small sprite. "I hadn't expected such entertainment, however."

"What?" Enzo glanced back at Ava as she continued to hop around. His rolled his eyes and put his hand up to his forehead. "Ava, you can stop now."

"Okay." Ava stopped and put her foot back on the ground. She swaggered a bit in a dizzy spell. "I do not feel so good, Enzo." 

"Just great." Enzo shook his head and turned his attention back to the view screen and the four ABCs that had them surrounded. "So what's the game, virus?"

"No game, my dear boy." Megabyte shook his head in an unstopping dark grin. "I just want to borrow that new toy of yours." 

"What are you talking…." Enzo stopped and looked back at Ava. He furrowed his eyebrows and glared back at the view screen. "Not without a fight you wont!" He flung his fist up at the view screen in defiance. 

"I assumed as much." Megabyte sighed in a bored manner and glanced to the ABC's. "Get it." 

"Ava, watch out!" Enzo called out to Ava as the ABCs began to open fire. The laser cannons tore up the ground beneath their feet as Enzo dove for cover. Ava tilted her head and looked at the blasts on the ground as they grew ever closer to her feet. As they hit her, she cringed with an involuntary reaction. The debris of ground and dirt clouded the area where Ava had been standing.

"You fools!" Megabyte yelled in anger at the ABCs. "I want it undamaged! It is of no use to me if it isn't functioning!"

"Yes Sir!" The ABCs unit called over the com-line before landing. Several viral troops exited the back hatch of the vehicle and approached the cloud of dust. 

"Ava!" Enzo called out, fearing the worst. 

"I am undamaged." Ava stepped from the cloud of dust and tilted her head from one side to the other as she looked over the approaching viral bynomes. She noted how their expressions changed to ones of surprise as she emerged from the laser fire without damage. 

"Clever girl." Megabyte nodded to himself, realizing his mistake. "It is like that web-surfr. You must aim for the source of the interface." 

"Yes, Sir!" The commanding viral nodded to the vid-window and looked back to Ava with a puzzled expression. 

"Ava! Protect your icon!" Enzo blurted out as he winced from a pain in his shoulder. 

"Why thank you my good boy." Megabyte chuckled. "Saves us the trouble of finding what the source of the interface is." 

"Nulls." Enzo hit his head with his hand in a moment of stupidity. He could be such a basic sometimes. 

"C'mon, Ava." Enzo grabbed Ava by the hand and dragged her along as he wove his way among the piles of junk. 

*******

The Web surfer let out a deep breath as he stepped off of Baud. Ray surveyed the area of the collapsed Circon Industries building where their last bout with Megabyte had occurred. Mouse's ship lay implanted in the front wall of a data storage center, covered in film of dust and building materials. Standing in silent revere, his mind raced in preparation for the battle to come. A battle he had never fought before. For all those times he just picked up and surfed out of a system in the face of such a battle, he found his feet unwilling to leave the broken and cracked ground he stood on. 

It was a strange feeling to have both the adversary and the prize of the fight ahead to be the same thing. Slowly, his feet began to move into the direction of the fallen ship, his boots leaving foot prints of where he had been. New dust brought by the winds settled over the footprints, covering the fact that they had ever existed.

Going back the way he had come was no longer an option. 

"Mouse?" Ray spoke softly into the depths of the cargo bay of the ship as he stepped through the open back hatch. 

"Thought you'd be off chasing LAN waves by now." Mouse sat in the cockpit of the ship, hunched over a flickering screen with a lap full of wires. "If you came back for that pack of yours, its in the corner by that blown fuse panel."

"I didn't come back for the pack." Ray took a few more steps toward her, noticing just how many repairs the ship needed. "I came back for you."

"Oh." Mouse, slightly thrown by the statement, straitened up in her chair and took her eyes from the screen. 

"We have some unfinished business, luv." Ray stopped in his steps in an uncertainty he had never felt before. All of his pride and assuredness had been left to wait outside the ship with Baud. 

"Oh really, darlin." Mouse sighed and hit a button on the control panel. "I thought we'd said all that needed to be said." 

"No, not quite." Ray slowly let out a deep breath and continued on his steps toward her, stopping once he had reached where she was seated. "I didn't say all that needed to be said."

"And what might that be?" Mouse couldn't bring her hurt filled eyes to look up at him. 

"Mouse, " He reached out to her, feeling a great need to touch her in his moment of treading where he had never gone before. "I'm sorry, luv. I'm sorry for not telling you everything. Can you forgive me?"

"Ray, I…" She lowered her head for a moment before finally bringing her eyes up to face his. "I just want to know why…why you didn't tell me in the first place."

"Because…" He sighed and lowered his hand from her shoulder. "Every other time I told a lady everything she decided it wasn't her cup a tea." 

"Well, Ray, " The fire in Mouse's spirit returned. "You should know better than to compare me with some two-credit hussy that you met on the web." 

"I know that luv!" Ray raised his hands in defense against her raging spirit.

"Then what was it, Ray?" Mouse stood up, sending the wires in her lap tumbling to the ground.

"I don't know!" Ray turned away from her, hurt by the anger in her eyes, but understanding its reason for being there. He eyed down the back of the ship and out the open hatch. All of his foot prints had disappeared. He could just as easily make new ones and leave this place forever. He could escape the feelings rising in him and ride the waves of cyberspace in search of a replacement for what he would be leaving behind. A replacement he knew he would never find. He took his eyes off of the open hatch and turned them back to his only reason for staying. By the look in her eyes, he knew that she was looking for the same thing he was. The true reasoning behind his deceit and his not running for the safety of cyberspace. "I was afraid, luv." 

"Of what?" Mouse had never expected those words to ever fall from the lips of the man before her. 

"I was afraid I'd loose you." 

"But you weren't afraid to tell all those other gals." Mouse pushed further, longing to gain a truthful understanding.

"I know. " Ray sighed. "That's why your different from those others. With them, I could care less if they decided to ride with me or leave me. But you…you Mouse, you mattered." 

"Ray, I.." For the first time, Mouse took steps toward the surfer who had a look on his face as if he had just lost the world. As she reached out and took hold of his hand, he looked up at her and brought his other hand to her face. The entire reasoning behind his existence came to him in that moment.

It was for her.

"I love you, Mouse." As the words he had been so afraid to speak fell past his lips, an immense feeling of relief and joy came over him. A regret for not saying it sooner also crept its way in. The loving smile that formed on her lips washed away all feelings but those he held for her. 

"I…I was begin ta wonder, sugah, if I was ever gonna hear those words from a fly boy like you." Mouse swallowed the lump of emotion in her throat as she brought her arms up around his neck. 

"I'll say it as many times as you want me too, luv." Ray smiled with the worst of it behind them and pulled her in closer.

"I love you too, Ray." She smiled at the sound of those words on her voice. They fell into a deep and tender caress, lost in the emotional atmosphere that existed with them in the ship. All that needed to be said had finally been said. "And I forgive you, Ray. I forgive you for everything done and anything to come. As long as you promise to never let me go." 

"Gladly, luv." Ray smiled widely and tightened his hold on her, more than happy to make that promise to her.

*******

"Halt!" Another group of virals stepped in front of Enzo and Ava as they fled. Soon, the virals had them surrounded and cornered. "Aim for the icon!" The command unit yelled at the rest of the virals. Several of them advanced toward the pair, and Enzo instinctively stepped between them and Ava. A spark from one of the binome's batons forced him to the ground in a jarring yelp of pain. "Be easy on yourself, kid, and stop resisting." 

"I don't like doing things the easy way!" Enzo glared up at the binome with a small smirk before knocking the baton to the ground with his yo-yo. He charged at the surprise binome as Ava stood in confusion at all that was happening. Two more binomes took a hold of the struggling Enzo, each grabbing an arm. A third came forward and jolted the boy a few more time with a baton. Enzo squirmed out of resistance and pain as his body slowly sank to the ground, his knees feeling like jello beneath him. He continued to put up a struggle despite his waning energy levels. As his eyes caught site of the virals that began to move in on Ava, something in his processes clicked. Why where they running? Ava was an anti-viral program after all. 

"Ava, do you thing!" Enzo yelled out to her.

"What?" Ava called out in confusion as she backed herself as far into the corner as she could. 

"Anti-viral them!" Enzo winced in pain as one of the virals struck him again.

"Silence!" The viral sneered down at the boy. 

"I need a command line to complete the function!" Ava called out again, her voice growing ever more like that of a cornered and frightened child. 

"Get it!" The command viral barked out the order to the rest.

"Activate anti-viral…uhm…program?" Enzo watched as nothing happened. "Uhm…command line anti-viral activation?" He frowned as Ava shook her head in desperation. She yelped in fear as one of the binomes reached out to her. She had run out of corner to back into. Enzo struggled to remember the important things Phong had told him amongst all of the old sprite's ramblings. One of the binomes hit him again with a glare.

"That will be enough of that!." The binome harrumphed. 

"I'm sorry, Ava." Enzo shook his head at his weakness in this moment. Then it clicked and his processes sparked to life. He looked up at his captors and then toward the binomes who had a grip on Ava. "Ava, command line A-V-A"

"Anti-Viral-Agent initialized." Ava's form became rigid and almost lifeless as the program took over and put an expressionless face over her fear laden eyes. That strange voice returned to her child body, and her eyes became slits of a deep glowing yellow. "Please specify targets."

"What is it doing?" One of the virals that had a hold on Ava's arm called over to his commander. 

"The binomes! The viral binomes!" Enzo called out to her in a deep sense of relief that it had worked.

"Target understood." Ava's head turned toward one of the virals that had her arm in his grip. The other binome let go and instinctively backed away as his counterpart stared up at the child's face in mesmerized confusion. He looked down to his arm as Ava's touch became the end of his Viral code. The yellow light that emerged from her hand ran up the viral's arms and across his body, searching until it found its target. As the light entered the binome's icon, he lashed out in pain and fell to his knees. When the light disappeared, an unconscious binome was left in place of where the viral once had been. "Target purified." Satisfied that all viral code had been purged from its first target, the A-V-A program turned Ava's eyes toward her next target.

"Alphanumeric!" Enzo yelled with a large grin. 

"Take it down! Aim for the icon!" The commanding binome barked out. When none of the forces moved he sneered. "Would you rather face Lord Megabyte empty handed?" The virals shook the heads in a defiant no before setting out to take down the program. "And don't let it touch you!" 

"Your finished!" Enzo laughed at the binomes who still had hold of him with a baton aimed at his back. Enzo fell hard against the ground as that baton met its mark. 

"Target purified." Ava dropped another binome to the ground and set her sites on the new attackers. Despite the powerful aspect of her anti-viral programming, it only took one well placed energy blaster shot to her icon to bring the child to her knees. 

"Ava!" Enzo called out to her as he tried to raise himself up. A hard hit to his head turned his whole world black as he fell unconscious back to the ground. 

"Program interrupted. Attempting to compensate." The A-V-A program continued to drive Ava's small body on as she tried to force herself from her knees. 

"Hit it again!" Another shot to her icon and the fight in her was gone. Her physical form flickered in and out of phase as the icon tried to repair itself. It was a strange and new sensation she entered as her mind fell into a bleak void of unconscious reality.

"Put her in the unit and bring her to me at once." Megabyte grinned with a dark viral green from the vid-window.

"And the boy?" The viral looked up at the vid-window as he stood over the limp sprite.

"He is of no use to me. Leave him." Megabyte waved his hand in dismissal.

"Alive?" The viral commander raised his brow. 

"Is that a question on my command?" Megabyte glared down at the commander.

"No sir!" The viral saluted and the vid window disappeared. "You heard Lord Megabyte. Load her up!" 

*******


	3. A Flaw in the Programming

**Chapter 3: A Flaw in the Programming**

And so it was that darkness covered the net. No functioning system was safe from the struggle that unfolded on that fateful day in what at the time seemed the most unlikely of places. Wars between the viral army and those sworn to defeat them at any cost raged across all corners of the net, infecting the web and all its deepest secrets. Nothing could escape the onslaught of a war once thought long over. 

It should have been over. 

It would have been over.

Had it not been for the short comings of one small sprite.

The unfortunate failings of the immature guardian child had lead to the destruction of all those around him. If only he had struck when he had the chance. If only he had protected the power that had been entrusted to him. If only he had been more brave, more up to the task, more of the Guardian he so wished to be.

And yet, in the distance, a small burning light appeared on the horizon to break the bleak void of the viral darkness.

The young Guardian watched as all viral entities ran from its growing rays of piercing luminescence. He shielded his eyes as it grew closer to him, a small voice coming from its core. It seemed a small hope of an end to the nightmare that had consumed him. With all effort, he arose from where the path of chaos had left him and began heading for its eerie call.

"Enzo." The weak but shimmering voice called his name, urging the sprite to quicken his steps. 

"Enzo, please…" The voice called out again in the dark destruction.

"What do you want from me!" Enzo yelled at the burning ball of light with his fist raised, angered that it had come to look upon him in his moment of failure.

"Enzo, please…" The voice repeated as the light covered the ground around him.

"I cant. " Enzo broke into a mad rage of tears and anguish. "I have failed."

"Enzo, please…" The voice called longingly to him with a sweet familiarity. "Enzo, please…wake up."

"What?" Enzo yelled in confusion as his feet again found themselves drawn to the lighted voice.

"Wake up!" The voice yelled at the boy this time, a great fear trembling through its shimmering light.

"I'm so sorry." The young Enzo shook his head in a lowered reverence at all that he had let happen in this horrid dreamlike reality. 

"Its alright, just please wake up." The voice pleaded with him to follow it to safety. "I need you."

"I'm coming!" Enzo began to ran for the voice, determined not to let anyone else down. "I'm coming to save you! I promise!" 

"Not so fast, boy!" A large blue had of golden claws surrounded the massive light, snuffing out its existence. 

"No!" Enzo yelled in the deepest of laments as the sky opened up and data began to flood the ground. The great laugh of the viral beast filled the air as two slits of green stared down at the false Guardian's failure. 

And in a long blink of his eyes, the nightmare was over.

For now.

"Enzo?" Dot's frightened face stared down at him. "Its ok. It was only a dream."

"Dot?" Enzo slowly raised a very sore a sore arm to his face as his eyes tried to adjust to the light of the room. "What happened?"

"We were hoping you could tell us." Dot placed a loving hand on his forehead.

"Hack and Slash found you unconscious in Mr. Pearson's dump." Bob placed a gentle hand on Enzo's shoulder.

"Ava!" Enzo sat up and looked around in a hopeless search. 

"We don't know where she is." Bob frowned. 

"I do." Enzo pulled his knees up to his chest and laid his head down upon them, unable to face the eyes of his mentor. 

"Where?" Dot ran her hand through her troubled brother's hair with deep concern. 

"He came out of nowhere! We tried to fight them off, but there were too many of them." Enzo let out a small sniffle, embarrassed by his inability to protect Ava. "She cured two off them, but then they hit her icon, and then…" Enzo shook his head.

"Megabyte has Ava?" Bob's voice raised, not out of anger but out of concern.

"Ya." Enzo answered, still unable to lift his head to face reality. 

"Its alright, Enzo." Dot tried to consul him. "No one could expect you to fight off so many." 

"Yes, my child." Phong entered into the room with a troubled look etched into his aged face. "From what the two binomes we found with you have told me, you put up a really good fight."

"No good enough." Enzo shook his head in frustration.

"You gave it your best, and that's all that matters." Bob understood how Enzo felt. He had found himself in similar situations countless times before. "I'm proud of you, Enzo."

"Really?" Enzo finally looked up at the Guardian he wanted to be.

"Yes, really." Bob gave him a small smile.

"We both are." Dot smiled at Enzo as her brother turned his eyes to her.

"But now Megabyte has Ava." Enzo sighed in the reality of the situation.

"Yes. I just don't know why." Bob furrowed his brow in thought. 

"Is he ok?" Hack zoomed into the room.

"Oh yes, is the little buddy ok?" Slash was soon to follow.

"Yes, he's fine. " Dot smiled at Enzo's finders. 

"Hooray!" They both yelled at once.

"Enzo!" Hack sped closer to the energy bed.

"Thank goodness you are ok!" Slash bumped Hack aside to get a better look at Enzo. 

"We thought you would never wake up!" Hack lamented.

"What a horrible thing to say!" Slash glared at Hack.

"Well it is true!"

"Still, he does not need to hear it!"

"But he is ok now!"

"Yes he is!"

"Hooray!" They shouted in unison again.

"Thanks, guys." Enzo gave a small smile to the two.

"But where is your little friend?" Hack questioned.

"Yes, where is the little girl?" Slash looked at everyone in the room.

"The virus has her." Enzo lowered his head as the smile faded from his lips.

***********

"Repair sequence complete." As the words finished from her lips, Ava opened her eyes and looked upon a strange and dark world. A sense of fright overwhelmed her as she outstretched her hand to feel the smooth surface of the containment unit that surrounded her. 

"You're awake!" An unfamiliar voice called out to her from the darkness beyond her prison. "Down here." 

"Who…" Ava looked over to another containment unit that sat beside her own, and she was surprised to see a green null looking back up at her. She raised an eyebrow in puzzlement. Her information files on nulls did not include the fact that they could talk. "Hello?"

"Hi!" The voice that came from the null seemed happy to have someone to talk to. "You'll have to excuse my present state. I'm Wellman Matrix."

"Wellman Matrix." Ava repeated as she searched her personnel database. "Father to Dot and Enzo Matrix. Lost in the explosion at Lost Angles. Current whereabouts unknown." Ava spoke to herself as her mind read over the file.

"Looks like your files are slightly outdated, but yes." The null tilted his head slightly. "And who are you?"

"I'm Ava." Ava looked over at the null with her usual grin. "I'm a program that was created to…" Her words cut off as a sound in the distance echoed through the room. 

"He's coming." The null backed away to a far corner of his containment unit. "He doesn't know I can function with out the robotic suit, so please act like I'm an ordinary null."

"Robotic suit?" Ava puzzled over the null's words. She wasn't exactly sure how an ordinary null was supposed to act. "Who is coming?" When the null gave no answer, Ava sat back against the containment unit's translucent wall and listened as the clicking sound of metal against metal grew louder. As the metallic footfalls drew nearer, Ava's whole body filled with an implacable feeling.

Dread.

"Well, look who is awake." A deep and sinister voice filled the silent darkness. Two green slits of eyes peered down at the frightened child who tried her best to go unnoticed. The menacing eyes turned away from her in the very moment when she felt she could take no more of their threatening glance. They focused instead on the prison beside hers. "And how are we doing, Mr. Matrix?"

Ava watched as the green null backed away from the voice that belonged to the green eyes. The viral figure they belonged to stepped into the dim light, giving Ava a full and frightening visage of her captor. Megabyte grinned with a mouth full of razor blades as he surveyed the null.

"What's the matter? Not happy to see me, Nibbles?" Megabyte laughed mockingly and tapped his fingers on the wall of the unit. After a momentary pause in thought, his eyes made their way back over to his new toy. 

"Good to see you are still functioning." Megabyte made his way over to her with strong mechanical steps. The sounds of his foot falls reverberated across the room and sent a chill up Ava's spine. "Quite an interesting thing, aren't you. So perfect for what I need to be accomplished, its almost as if those rebel fools created you for me."

"I was created for you." Ava responded with a shaky voice. "I was created to purge the viral code from your files. I was created to cure you." 

"Oh, really?" Much to Ava's surprise, Megabyte seemed pleasantly amused by her words. "Well, there has been a slight change in plans, I'm afraid." 

"I do not understand." Ava watched innocently as the virus moved away from her containment unit. He walked over to the now viral infected main consul of the P.O. control center and picked up two objects. 

"You are not going to 'cure' me, I'm afraid." His eyes surveyed to two objects as he spoke. "You see, Ava, I enjoy being a virus. Infecting systems and controlling the power in them is what I live every cycle for. To do otherwise would go against my viral code. A code I have grown rather attached to. So, instead of 'curing' me of my infection, " He slowly turned his luminescent green eyes on her. "you, my dear child, are going to help me carry out my viral function."

"I will not and can not comply." Ava said simply. "I am incapable of carrying out function commands given by viral infected entities."

"Oh, but you can." Megabyte leaned in close to the walls of her confinement with a sneering grin. "And you will."

"I can not comply. It is against my programming." Ava stated in a voice that seemed to hold all the truth to her world. It was her programming after all. Despite the fear that coursed through her files, she knew that what the virus proposed was impossible. Her programming defined it as such. 

"Ah, but you see my dear girl, that is the wondrous thing about programs." Megabyte leaned back in a small arrogant chuckle. "They can be rewritten."

"Impossible." Ava shook her head in disbelief, though a small data file in her system crept up to hint at the possibility of truth in the virus's statement.

"If its one thing I have learned over the hours, " He looked down upon her with a knowing alligator grin. "nothing is impossible."

The virus laughed for a moment as he looked at the reaction on her face. He could see that she still held of hope that he was bluffing. The poor child didn't know him well enough to know that virus's don't bluff. Perhaps a small demonstration was in order to dash what few hopes this girl still clung to. He grinned with anticipation of the demonstration to come. 

"You see this?" He held up one of the objects he was holding. It was a small yellow data disk that reflected onto Ava's face with the small light that existed in the room. After a small nod from Ava, the virus continued. "This is an advanced firewall protocol created by that double crossing hacker, Mouse. It was supposed to be used to protect programs such as yourself from viral infection. What a pity she never got the chance to install it onto your program matrix." Megabyte gave a mock frown before twisting his golden claws around the object, mangling it into unusable junk. He dropped the useless disk to the ground in front of Ava's containment unit. "Looks like now she will never get that chance."

"This, however, is of mine own design." He held up another small disk, but green in its reflective color. He looked over it for a small moment with an arrogant grin before continuing. "I quite proud of it actually."

"What is it?" Ava regretted letting her curiosity get the best of her as Megabyte leaned in close to her confinement unit.

"This, my dear child, is going to make your program a little more virus friendly. Once I install this onto your matrix, not only will you be able to comply to my commands, you will do so willingly." He grinned down at his captive as she stared in wide eyed fear at the little green disk in his hand. 

"But, what could infecting me possibly gain you?" Ava was genuinely confused by why this monster wanted her help. She was only an anti-virus program, and by what happened today she judged she wasn't even a very good one. 

"Oh, so they haven't told you." Megabyte leaned away from the containment unit with a slightly raised eyebrow. "Interesting. Perhaps they don't trust the new program in Mainframe after all. Interesting indeed." 

"Please explain." Ava tilted her head in puzzlement at the virus's words.

"Well, my dear child, living in the Principle Office has given me some very…enlightening reading material. Some of which was on yours truly." He stopped to chuckle slightly. "There was also a very interesting profile on your programming matrix in the lab. Check you system files for a protocol titled Backdoor. I think you will find it of interest as well." Megabyte grinned mischievously down at the girl as she debated on whether or not to comply with his request. His smile widened as her curiosity got the best of her, again.

"Accessing." Ava searched her system files for such a protocol, and her eyes widened when she realized it was actually there. Her mouth began to slowly open in to a voiceless astonishment as she accessed it and began to understand what it was. This Backdoor was actually a gateway access to Mainframe's Central Core and all the information processed there. From this access point, she could gain access to almost any process in Mainframe. It was a frightening prospect for such a program who only moments before was sure she was a failed prototype. 

"So you see, you are much more than a simple anti-viral program." Megabyte loved the fear that began to replace the astonishment in the child's eyes. "It appears when the A-V-A program was to be intergraded onto that meddlesome Guardian's key tool, it was also intended to give him direct access to any system he might need. Of course, they never expected such access to be given to a mere child. But, here you are."

"I will…not comply." Ava began to desperately searching her files for any type of shut down protocol, anything that might save her from the intentions of the virus.

"If your looking for your shutdown command, save your energy." Megabyte watched her eyes as they searched her files. He chuckled and walked back over to the corrupted consul. "It has already been disabled. Now then, enough talk." He took the green disk and inserted it into a data transfer drive with a dark smirk. "We have a lot of work to do."

***********

"I'm sorry sugah, I don't think I heard you right." Mouse stared into the vid-window in her cockpit at the group gathered at the diner. "Did you say Megabyte has Ava?"

"I'm afraid so, Mouse." Bob nodded in a small sigh.

"Poor thing. I hope the little-bit is ok." Ray frowned as he stepped up behind Mouse to see was at the dinner. Bob and Dot stood front and center in front of the view screen, with Enzo sitting at the bar with his head in his hands.

"How exactly did this all happen?" Mouse crossed her arms.

"Well, Megabyte ambushed her and Enzo down at Old Man Pearson's." Dot explained. 

"Is Enzo ok?" Mouse looked past Dot top see Enzo sulking at the bar.

"Not really, Mouse." Dot sighed and looked back at her little brother. "He was knocked unconscious by that beast, and he feels responsible for Ava getting captured." 

"Cheer up, sugah." Mouse offered Enzo a smile as he looked up at her. "You did your best. We'll get her back in no time."

"Ya." Enzo just half nodded in a less than enthusiastic response.

"We are here!" Hack burst through the doors of the dinner.

"Yes! The cavalry has arrived!" Slash was not long to follow.

"And we have brought help!"

"Yes, big help!"

"Extremely large help!"

"The biggest we could find!"

"Yes indeedy!" Hack and Slash jetted off to either side to make room for Matrix as he walked through the doors of the new command center of Mainframe. 

"Great." Enzo shook his head, just waiting for his bigger self to rub in what a little basic he was.

"Where's AndrAIa?" Bob was surprised to see Matrix with out her.

"Back at the bunkers continuing with the repairs." Matrix paused to make way as Frisket plowed through the door. The dog gave his usual less than warm welcome to Bob before heading over to Enzo.

"Hey, boy." Enzo gave a small smile to Frisket and patted his head lightly. 

"So what's this all about?" Matrix stepped up to group, nodding a small hi to Mouse through the vid-window.

"Megabyte attacked Enzo and Ava at Mr. Pearson's place. He beat up Enzo pretty badly, and he took Ava back to the Principle Office, at least that where we think he took her." Bob waited for Matrix's reaction.

"I knew that thing would be nothing but trouble." Matrix crossed his arms in a frown. 

"She's not a thing!" Enzo glared up at his older self. "And its not her fault she got taken. Its mine." 

"Woah!" Matrix lifted his hands up in defense against Enzo's anger. "Sorry kiddo."

"And its not your fault either Enzo." Dot corrected her younger brother again.

"What I don't understand is why a Virus like Megabyte would be interested in an Anti-Viral program, less of course he went and decided to cure himself." Ray tilted his head as he asked the question that was on everyone's mind. 

"That's a good question, Ray." Dot nodded and began to think to herself. She had been trying to come up with an answer to that question for a while. 

"She is 'just' an anti-viral-agent, right? No surprises?" Bob raised an eyebrow at Mouse, knowing full well that she loved to add little surprises of her own to just about everything she programmed. 

"I swear, honey!" Mouse had to smile at how well Bob knew her. "It was designed specifically to be an aid to Guardians and their Keytools, no tricks or surprises attached. It was just designed to cure the virus, and aid them in other ways such as tare production, communications…access…." Her words suddenly began to trail off. "Oh dear User…"

"What!?" Bob thought the tone of Mouse's voice was sending them all to the doom of certain deletion.

"Backdoor!" Mouse and Dot both spoke in unison as they looked up at each other in wide eyed realization.

"Dot, you don't think…I mean, how could he have found out?" Mouse shook her head, seeing a very dangerous flaw in the programming she had created. 

"He does have access to all the lab files at the P.O." Dot frowned. "His droned power over me saw to that." 

"Would some one kindly explain what the dell you two are talking about!" Matrix hated being out of the loop, though by the look on Bob's face, he wasn't the only one. Ray just stood behind Mouse, knowing better than to interrupt the hacker when she was thinking in programming terms.

"What is back door?" Bob gave Dot a very concerned look as she looked at him with a sudden fear in her eyes. 

"Its bad Bob, very bad." Dot shook her head as her mind raced with all the unforeseen dangers that the Backdoor protocol could produce. 

********

Darkness is a strange sensation. To truly understand the subtle sensory inputs one can get from such a thing as darkness, there must first be no preconceptions that such a thing has no real sensation. A newborn program has no such hindrance. Within darkness exists a voided reality in which the silence is so loud it deafens the mind and nubs the spirit. It is calm and weightless, yet a storm of the unconscious rages within its borders. The true sensory euphoria, however, comes into being when some distant light begins to creep into the darkness. It tingles and surges into the mind, sending forth both panic and a strange familiarity. To stay in the darkness could offer more waves of sensory experience for the one who craved it. Still, so much to learn, so much to experience, so much to fulfill. The darkness would wait for her, it knew she would return. All those that felt its intoxication do return eventually. It is an inevitability. For now, she had much to accomplish, many tasks to perform, and her master was waiting for her. 

"Psssssst! Hey! Little girl? Uhm, Ava? That's your name right? Ava, are you awake yet?" Wellman Matrix peered his short stature null head into the containment unit next to his. The glass on the child's unit had long been fogged over, a side effect from the treatment he suspected. He still wasn't quite sure what the virus had exactly done to the poor girl, only that her screams from the pain still echoed in the back of his mind. His helplessness in the situation only reminded him of the pitiful nature that is being a null. At least he could talk, which is more than he had been able to do in quite some hours. Of course, he never was good at making conversation. His small green head tilted slightly as he detected movement from the containment unit which held the girl. "Ava? Are you ok, little girl?" 

"Yes, Mr. Matrix. I am functioning at peak efficiency." Her words sounded as if she were some type of automated machine, and the mature nature of her voice caused Wellman to question just who it was he was speaking too. 

"Well, uhm…that's good. I was worried for a moment because of…" His words cut off as a small light began to appear from the fog of the girls containment unit. The sight of the two glowing viral green slits of eyes that blinked into existence caused him to take a few slithers back. He knew that this was not the same little girl he had acquainted himself with earlier. "Oh my…" 

******

"Why didn't you two tell us about this Backdoor before?" Matrix was angry about being kept in the dark on this. They had allowed an unknown child to run around Mainframe with this ability. They should have kept her confined, kept her secure, or even shut down her program. The dangerous possibilities that lie within the Backdoor protocol should have never been allowed to exist in the hands of a child. 

"With all that was going on, I just forgot that it even existed." Dot shook her head, knowing that her brother had every right to be angry at her over this. She had allowed this unknown entity to venture out into the system without first gaining an understanding of all that she was. The command.com should know better than to make such a careless mistake. 

"If it is anyone's fault, my child, it is mine." Phong placed his hand on the troubled sprite's shoulder. He gave Dot a small smile as she looked to him. "I let her out of the diner, not you. She was just so board, and fidgety, and well...cute! I thought, what could a little fresh air hurt? Never did it cross this old sprite's mind that something like this could happen." 

"I know, Phong. None of us could." Bob looked around the group at the dinner. 'So lets quit trying to place blame and begin working on a solution to our problem." 

"Good idea, my son." Phong nodded with a small smile. Bob had become quite the leader in the past few minutes. The young Guardian had grown much in maturity over the past few hours. This, mixed with his life by the nano outlook, made Bob truly one of the best Guardians in the Net, despite his differing ideas from the Guardian collective. Phong had no idea that perhaps these ideas themselves were beginning to change along with the rest of Bob. There is only so much one can take before mercy turns into regret.

"Ok. We need to try and figure out just what Megabyte will use the Backdoor protocol for. Can he make portals with this?" Bob wanted to cover any and every angle that that virus might have over them.

"No, sugah, he cant." Mouse and Ray continued to watch in over the vid-window in her ship's cockpit. "Ava can produce a tare, but cant stabilize it into a portal."

"That's good to know. " Matrix enjoyed the first bit of good news to enter the conversation. "That means Megabyte is stuck in the system." 

"Well then, he will need to get a hold of either me or Ray to stabilize the tare and get out of this system. Its always been his main objective, so I think its our surest bet." To Bob this seemed the post probable course of action.

"I don't think so, Bob." Dot look up to him from her seat at the bar and slowly began to shake her head. She down cast her eyes as she brought forth the memories of the past few horrendous seconds of her life. "Not this time." 

"What do you mean, Dot?" Bob tilted his head as the rest of the diner seemed to fall completely silent, as if hanging on every word that was to flow from the mouth of this one green sprite sitting down in front of him.

"When I was droned by…that monster…I could almost hear his mind at times." Dot shook her head as she tried to find an explanation for what she was trying to say. "Thru all of it, the battles, trying to get into the Supercomputer, the games he played with all of us…there was one feeling that kept creeping into my mind from him. He's changed Bob. The power and domination he once sought as his prime function have all taken a backseat to a new hunger in his stomach." Dot took a moment to look up from her thoughts, her eyes passing to all of her friends and family in the room. She used to know this virus so well, and now she felt like she him more than she ever wanted to. The lingering hatred from his new goal still sent pins and needles up her spine. After a long pause and a deep breath, she continued. "He doesn't want to get away from us or this system anymore. He doesn't even want to dominate us. He wants revenge, pure and simple. He wants us to suffer for all of the defeats and humiliations we have caused him over the hours, and he wants us to suffer greatly. Then when he is done making us suffer, he wants to personally delete every single one of us."

"Well we wont give him that chance." Matrix frowned and placed a hand on his sister's shoulder, giving it a firm squeeze. "We've done it a hundred times before. So he has a new toy, big deal." 

"Only this time, his new toy happens to be a little girl with access to just about every aspect of this system." Ray thought it best to add a little perspective to Matrix's idea of a no-problem situation.

"He also has some new tricks up his sleeves, the least of which is his ability to copycat our forms and mannerisms." Mouse added in.

"So, we should stay in teams at all times." Bob nodded. "So we've figured out his objective, the new abilities and accesses he has, and a way to keep him from Trojan-horsing his way back into our trust again."

"Now we just need to figure out what accesses he will prefer to use, and a way to stop him." Dot ran a hand through her hair as her planning protocol began to processes at its normal speed. "Well, attacking the P.O. didn't work, and neither did bringing him to us. I think what we need is a two sided attack. Hit him in both places at once. Let him hunt us, and while some of us are keeping him occupied, the rest will take him down from the inside out. Take away his access power, and you make him easier to catch."

"That means we'll have to disable Ava's access, sugah." Mouse thought for a moment. "He's gotta control her through infection, or else her own programming wouldn't let her help him." 

"How can a virus infect an anti-viral program?" Matrix raised an eyebrow.

"Well, that's partly my fault, and I'll explain my programming error latter. Just know that he can, and probably already has, infected her program." Mouse wasn't in the mood to tell Matrix about another one of her mistakes with the A.V.A. program.

"Alright. Well lets assemble the teams then." Dot reached for her organizer that sat behind her on the bar. She stopped with a wide-eye realization that through the entire conversation someone had been completely quite. "Where's Enzo?"

*******


	4. Hidden File and Seek

Chapter 4: **Hidden File and Seek**

He was tired.

Tired of being the backup file for everyone else's plans and activities. So what if he was a copy. So what if he was only 1-0. So what if he was just a kid. He wasn't basic, at least not entirely. Everyone seemed to have preplanned expectations and ideas about him. It felt as if he was running in circles between the lines of what they wanted of him and what they didn't want him doing. Now he was too tired and too dizzy to care anymore. He was going to do what he felt was necessary, even if it meant going right back into the center of the beast itself. This sprite wasn't going to stand idly by and watch his system be ripped apart by that viral darkness again.

Enzo sighed a long breath as he surveyed the landscape of Mainframe below him. He had decided to take a detour through Kits and then hit the P.O through Floating point instead of the direct approach strait from Baudway. He figured Megabyte's goons would be less protective of the park, plus it gave him time to figure out just what he was going to do once he did get to the principle office. Planning was his sister's strength, not his. He didn't, however, want to just go in with guns blazing like his older counterpart. Partly because he didn't want to get deleted, and partly because he didn't have a gun. 

He had to laugh at that.

What was he going to do? Walk in there and talk Megabyte into letting Ava go? He doubted seriously that would work. It might have with the old Megabyte that he was familiar with. At least that version of the virus was halfway sensible and would actually listen to a decent proposal of trade. The new version, however, was very far from sensible. This new Megabyte reminded Enzo of the animals from the games that ran on instinct and carnal hunger. This beast had a hunger alright, a hunger for vengeance. In a strange way, Enzo found himself missing the old Megabyte. 

Heading into Floating Point, Enzo pushed that thought from his files. Old or new, Megabyte was still a virus in his system. He wasn't sure how yet, but he knew that he had to do something to stop that virus from fulfilling any plan he had of bringing down the system again. He also had to fulfill the duty Bob gave him and get Ava away from that monster. He wasn't exactly sure what ole Mega-breath had planned for the little basic. He had departed the diner long before they had neared that discussion. He couldn't sit around and listen to them talk while thoughts of what the virus was doing to her rain through his mind. It was his fault she was there, and it was up to him to fix it. Now he just had to figure out how. 

"Hey little buddy!" Hack called out as he and Slash rocketed toward the young green sprite.

"Enzo! Where are you going!"

"Yes, the diner is the other way!" Hack pointed out.

"You seem to be going backwards." Slash agreed.

"I'm not going to the diner." Enzo didn't slow down. "I'm going to the Principle Office." 

"Oh! Ok. We were worried for a moment." Hack nodded.

"Oh yes. We though for sure you were going to wrong way."

"But I guess you are not because the P.O. is in the direction you are going."

"Yes, that-a-way!" Slash pointed toward the white pinnacle in the near horizon.

"Wait a nano…" Hack raised an eyebrow.

"What is it buddy?" Slash raised one too.

"Did he say that he is heading toward the principle office?"

"Yes, I believe he did." 

"But isn't Megabyte in the principle office?"

"Yes, I believe he is." Slash nodded. They both froze in their movements as they finally caught on to what Enzo was doing. The both sped up and called out to him. "ENZO WAIT!"

"The kid has gone random."

"Yes I believe he has, ole buddy."

*********

"Ava?" Megabyte called out as he entered darkened command center.

"Yes, Lord Megabyte." Ava responded to the viral voice of her new lord in a monotone but melancholic voice. 

"Ah, good. You are finally awake." Megabyte grinned. "I do hope Nibbles has been good company to you."

"Yes, Lord Megabyte." Ava responded in the same tone.

"Do cheer up, dear child." Megabyte turned on a few of the lights to better view his creation. "You are going to help me destroy my enemies, after all."

"Yes, Lord Megabyte." Ava responded again with the same tone., but added her trademark smile.

"That's better." Megabyte nodded to himself. He had programmed her to be that way, after all. He placed a readme file on the consul before pulling up several vid windows of his commanding ABC virals. "Ava, I have come up with a most ingenious, if not old, plan. It's a plan I should have used a long time ago. It has worked throughout the net's histories of wars. Do you know what that is?"

"No, Lord Megabyte." Ava remained still in her movements in the containment unit.

"It is called divide and conquer. " Megabyte looked to his ABCs that awaited his commands. "Prepare to engage the rebels of my system." 

"We are ready and at your command, My Lord." One of the ABC commanders saluted.

"Good. " He turned toward Ava. "Now comes your part. We are going to divide this system up and rip it apart piece by piece. Ava, be a good girl and access the core's system and begin the sector separation process. I want all the sectors disconnected from the core's power and separated from each other."

"As you wish, My Lord." Ava closed her viral eyes and began to access the Core's files on sector separation procedures. Within each movement through the Core's system, she found her program fighting some unseen force. It was as if a wall was trying to erect itself with in her and stop her from completing her new function. Despite the strange inflections rising from somewhere deep within her programming, she fought on to complete the function. Completing a function is a program's prime reason for being, no matter what that function might be. "Accessing complete. Shall I begin the process, Lord Megabyte?"

"Yes." Megabyte smiled fondly at the marvels of his creation. After all of his shortcomings, it would be the mind of a child that was created by a mistake that would give him the victory he had always desired. "Begin the separation!"

********

"So go ahead and push da button." Hack waited beside Slash at the main gate to the P.O. Surprisingly, the viral guards seemed to preoccupied to deal with the threat they could posses. They were curious as to why a great threat such and them would be treated so indifferently. 

"Oh, no. Not getting into that discussion again." Slash crossed his arms.

"Fine. I'll push it for once." Hack shook his head. "I mean really, its just a button you coward."

"I am not a coward!"

"Yes you are!."

"Am not!"

"Yes you are! You are afraid of a little itty bitty button!"

"Am not!

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!" Slash huffed and pushed the button to alert Megabyte that they were standing outside the P.O. He looked over to Hack as he began to laugh.

"What is so funny?"

"I got you to push the button again!"

"That is so not fair."

"I'm a very busy Virus, so this had better be good." Megabyte glared down at the two traitorous bots who stood at the doorway to his new home.

"Boss!" Hack saluted the vid window image of Megabyte.

"So nice to see you doing so well!" Slash saluted too.

"Finish with the pleasantries and get on with it before I have you decompiled and recompiled into something useful like a new doormat." Megabyte's patience wore ever thinner.

"We have returned!" Hack offered.

"Yes, we have returned to serve you, Lord Megabyte!"

"I no longer have need of your services." Megabyte glared at the two, wondering what they were up to.

"Wait!" Hack was not in the mood to become a doormat.

"Yes, do give us a nano!"

"We have information!"

"Yes useful information!"

"About what Dot is planning." 

"Oh yes, and what a plan it is!"

"Oh really?" Megabyte continued his menacing glare, despite the growth of a wickedly dark smile appearing on his lips. He decided that he might as well play along for now. If they were trying to trick him, he would enjoy paying them back for betraying him. If they were not, he supposed he could wait to administer that payback for a few cycles. "Well, don't just stand there you fools! Come in."

"Alright!" Hack saluted.

"Yes, sir!" Slash saluted. The vid window disappeared and the large metal doors began to open.

"Do you really think this will work?" Hack whispered.

"Not in a million hours." Slash sighed.

"Thanks for that vote of confidence."

"Anytime, buddy." 

*********

"I cant believe he did this!" Matrix vented his anger at Enzo's running off to anyone that cared to listen. The lucky sprite just happened to be Bob.

"He feels responsible, Matrix." Bob did his best to keep up with Matrix's speed on the zip board as they flew over Kits sector.

"That's still no reason to just run off and get yourself deleted!" Matrix was mad, but also concerned. He had really begun to get used to having the younger version of himself around. It was a headache, no doubt, but there was some strange bond they shared. It was a bond stronger than brotherhood. He also knew that if anything happened to Enzo, Dot would be crushed. "When I find him I'm going to put a location beacon on him and chain command him to one of the diner stools."

"Matrix, calm down." Bob took note of the obvious concern that lay within the heated words of the oversized green sprite. 

"Bob?" Dots face appeared on the communication screen of Glitch.

"Matrix, hold on a sec." As Matrix slowed to a stop, Bob pulled up Dot's image on a vid window. "Yes, Dot?"

"Any luck yet?" Dot had worry filled eyes as she looked to Bob and Matrix, hoping for good news.

"No, but don't worry. He's around here somewhere." Bob tried to sound encouraging to put Dot's mind at ease. She had a lot to focus on at the moment. "I'm sure he just wanted to get away for everyone for a bit." 

"You're probably right, Bob." Dot nodded with a small sigh. "He was pretty upset."

"We'll find him sis." Matrix assured his sister. 

"I know you will." She paused to smile at her brother. "I also called to tell you that we have been picking up some odd activity readings from the Principle Office." Dot pushed her worries about Enzo to the side for a moment to focus on her command.com duties.

"Odd how?" Bob raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not exactly sure, to tell you the truth." Dot gave a small shrug. "There have been sudden bursts of energy, followed by an energy drain. Then the pattern repeats. We have also begun to loose some of our.." The vid window disappeared.

"Dot?" Bob looked to Glitch. Dots face reappeared on Glitch's screen.

"As I was saying, " Dot frowned slightly. "We have begun to loose some of our communication commands. Hold on a nano.." Dot turned to a data pad.

"I don't like this." Matrix gruffed. "That virus is up to something."

"What else is new." Bob smiled slightly and waited for Dot to come back.

"Bob, " Dot returned her eyes back to the Guardian. "We just lost communications with Floating Point and Hollywood, and it looks like Hollywood has lost all power." 

"What?" Matrix blinked slightly. "He must be powering down the sectors one by one."

"Or Ava is, to be more precise." Dot shook her head in frustration. "We haven't been able to restore communication or power. Its out of our hands. Bob, I need you to…" Dot cut off as Glitch's communicator went to static.

"Dot? Dot, come in!" Bob raised an eyebrow as he looked at Glitch. "What do you mean there is nothing to reestablish? Oh. This is bad, very bad."

"What is it Bob?" Matrix was prepared for the worst.

"Glitch cant make contact with Baudway because Baudway just lost all power." Bob looked back down at Glitch. "And there goes Floating Point…and now Kits."

"Uhm, Bob…we're in Kits." Just as Matrix finished his sentence, Kits sector began to power down. 

"We'd better get down to ground level before our zip boards take us there the hard way." Bob could already feel the zip board beneath his feet loosing power.

"Good idea." Matrix was in perfect agreement to that suggestion. They were still five feet from the ground when their zip boards finally gave out on them and became dead weight. They surveyed the streets next to Bob's apartment building. Everything was quiet and left at a sudden standstill. A few of the binomes who had decided not to go to the bunkers were left looking at the energy dry sector in stunned silence. 

"Bob?" Mouse's voice ran over Glitch's com line.

"I'm here Mouse. " Bob realized that luckily Mouse's ship had an independent energy source from Mainframe. 

"What in the dell is going on?" Mouse appeared as frustrated as Dot had been. "G-Prime just shut down, and I cant get a hold of the diner!" 

"All of the sectors have powered down." Bob didn't know exactly what to tell her.

"Wonderful." Mouse rolled her eyes. "I guess we have Backdoor to thank for this. Sorry about this, sugah."

"Its alright, Mouse. Its no one's fault, remember." Bob gave the hacker a small smile.

"Ya, your right." Mouse reluctantly nodded in agreement. "Did you find Enzo?"

"No, not yet." Bob sighed heavily. 

"Bob?" Matrix called over to the Guardian to gain his attention to a sudden loud humming rumble that began to emanate from the ground beneath their feet.

"What is that noise?" Bob looked down to his feet as the ground began to shake slightly.

"Bob, are you getting this!" Mouse called over the com as she had to hold onto the cockpit chair to keep from falling over.

"What in the net!" Ray's voice entered into the conversation from behind Mouse. "Its like we're riding a data-storm!" 

"Then you should have no problem." Mouse laughed as Ray hoped onto Baud to escape the shaking floor of Mouse's ship. 

"Bob! Am I seeing what I think I'm seeing?" Matrix pointed to the Principle Office which seemed to be moving away from theme, or more precisely like they were moving away from it. A sudden large jolt brought both the Guardian and the large sprite off of their feet.

"He's separating the sectors!" Bob couldn't believe what he was seeing. 

"What was your first clue, mate!" Ray smirked into Glitch's view screen before Mouse had a chance to push him away.

"Move it, fly boy!" Mouse glided Ray and Baud across her ship with a push before turning back to Bob. "What should we do, honey?"

"I have no idea." Bob was still trying to deal with the fact that Megabyte had actually separated the sectors of Mainframe. He shook his head as the rumbling stopped, the sector's movement phase at an end. "But I bet Dot does. Matrix and I are stuck here, but your Ship and the Baud run off of separate energy sources. I need one of you to head for the diner, and I need to other one to come help us look for Enzo" Bob had to take pause for a moment as he found himself planning like Dot again. He smiled slight before continuing. "Mouse, why don't you head to the diner so we can use your communications."

"Sounds like a plan, sugah." Mouse mockingly saluted Bob and his plan.

"Ill be right over to lend you two a hand." Ray waved over the communication screen.

"Great." Matrix gave a less than enthusiastic roll of the eyes.

"Hey, I don't have to do you any favors, Mate." Ray pointed at Matrix. "I can just get Bob and leave you at the bottom of Kits to walk back to the diner…or swim rather."

"Ray, just get your ascii over there." Mouse shook her head in a small laugh. She wondered if those two would ever grow up. She didn't think it was very likely.

"Sure thing, pretty lady." Ray winked at her. "But only because you asked so nicely." He snuck in a quick kiss before leaving the ship.

"Oh brother." Matrix shook his head. "This is going to be a long second."

*******

"Bob? Bob come in?" Dot cursed under her breath as the communication screen remained blank. "Its no use. Its like everything just shut down."

"That is precisely what happened, my child." Phong peered out of the diner window. "I believe that the rest of the sectors are powered down, just like us."

"What next." Dot tossed her planner onto the table and sank back into the booth with a frustrated sigh. Her eyes widened as her planer and glass of energy began to shake on the table from an unknown vibration. "Me and my big mouth."

"It appears we are moving." Phong pointed toward the P.O. as it became ever more distant in the horizon.

"What?" Dot sat strait up and looked out the window. She watched helplessly Baudway detached itself from the P.O. and became an island in the energy sea around Mainframe. The virus had really outdone himself this time.

*******

"Do you hear that?" Hack noticed a loud hum, followed by a small shaking rumble coming from outside the large P.O. door after it had shut behind him and his counterpart.

"Sorry." Slash shook his head. "But you know that my stomach gets upset when I am nervous."

"Not that, dummy!" Hack sighed. "I mean the noise from outside!"

"Oh, yes. I do hear that too."

"Keep moving." The viral binome behind them kept them moving toward the Command room. The rumbling noise from outside faded away as they moved deeper into the bowels of the beast's new domain. Hack and Slash did not fail to notice the decorative changes that Megabyte had made to the once pristine and lighted halls of the old P.O. . Banners of his reign flapped from the ceilings, statues were already being compiled in his honor, and the viral vines of his infection crept along the floors and walls, choking everything they touched into submission to his will. Taking note of these changes only made the two bots shake a little louder in fright at the upcoming meeting with their old Lord. They had betrayed him, after all, and they knew full well how much Megabyte enjoyed dealing with those that dared to defy his viral command. 

"Halt!" The viral binome commanded them as the approached the large steel green doors that now bore the green symbol of the virus that lay beyond them.

"Oh dear." Hack whispered just above the sound of his shaking metal parts.

"Maybe this was not such a good idea." Slash had to fight to keep himself from shaking apart at the seams.

"What? Now you choose to voice and objection?"

"Well i.."

"I asked you to voice any objections before we came here…but noooo you were perfectly fine with it and En.." Hack cut off as his mouth became covered by Slash's hand.

"Sshhhhhh! He may hear you!" Slash glared at Hack. 

"Good point." Hack muffled in agreement from behind Slash's hand. "But I'm still mad at you."

"Tell me what else is new?" Slash rolled his eyes and moved his hand away from Hack's mouth. There attention was quickly drawn to the large steel doors again as they began their slow creaking motion to open into the dark world beyond.

"We are both going to be deleted." Hack got out before they were ushered into the dimly lit Command Room. Lighted panels flashed along the walls in an eerie iridescent rhythm that seemed to match the pulsating organic viral attachment tendrils that filled every possible space. The air was stagnant, deathly, rancid. Its scent carried with it metal, sweat, and tangible fear. Fear. The room was filled with it. Every poor contained its thick and sickening presence. Every binome was well aware of its presence, and now so were two unquestionably frightened bots. The entire room seemed to vibrate with each step of the viral creature across its metal mesh floor. With the final sound of the doors closing behind them, the two bots realized they had just sealed their fate. Whatever it may be, there was now no turning back.

"Courage favors the fool, does it not." Megabyte's strong and corrosive voice sent a spine tingling familiarity through each of the bot's files. They had once served this viral master loyally, and they remembered well the price for failure. Now they stood before him, shaking in a mad clinging of parts, as betrayers that had conspired against the virus and left him for deletion. They watched nervously as the virus watched them in silence. He seemed to be waiting for something interesting to happen, and his very stare felt as if it could decompile the two bots right where they stood. When they finally realized that Megabyte knew exactly why they were there, it was too late. A deep viral sneering smile of razorblades formed on Megabytes metallic blue face as a guttural chuckle darker than the web itself broke the silence of the room. Without taking his eyes from them, he motioned to his side. "I believe you have already meet my new…associate."

"Hello." Ava peered at them from a shadowed distance with eyes of a deep viral green. The green had since tinged the once bright yellow of her skin. Slowly, file by file, the infection was ripping her anti viral program apart. 

"It is the little girl." Hack sputtered out over cowering shakes.

"Not the same little girl, I think." Slash shook his head.

"How very observant of you." Megabyte rolled his eyes in a board manner. "Now, shall we dispense with the charade nicely, or shall we do things my way?"

"Whatever do you mean?" Hack knew that Megabyte was well aware of the charade, but he always held onto the smallest of chances.

"Yes, boss. We only want to come and tell you Dot's plan." Slash nodded.

"Yes indeedy. And what a plan it is!"

"Oh yes, what a plan."

"Full of guns…and..and.."

"and Matrix….and.."

"Oh yes, can not forget him."

"oh, never!"

"Enough!" Megabyte pounded a golden clawed fist into the consul beside him, sending a cascade of sparks and light into the room. The light soon faded and the darkness returned to overshadow the two bots. "I grow tired of this. Ava, be a good girl and take that file off of their hands."

"Yes, Lord Megabyte." Ava nodded slowly, the tone of her voice as dark and corrosive as her masters. The plastered smile on her blue lips only heightened the truly disturbing image of the virus infected child interface. 

"What file?" Hack refused to let this go quietly. 

"Yes? What are you talking about, boss." All they needed was a distraction. Time, however, had left them without a place to fulfill that part of the plan that had been quickly thrown together only half a millisecond ago. As the viral child approached them with a floating glory resembling some morose vision of a savior User, the two bots found their charade at a humble finality. They froze in their places, unable to break the viral encoding that had begun as soon as they entered the room. The tendrils of his mad domain were everywhere, and went silently unnoticed as they slid themselves up into the files of the two who had dared to cross the threshold of the beast. 

Courage favors the foolish. 

With a single motion of the child's hand, the charade shattered as the hidden-file command left Slash's grasp. In an instant wave of motion, it found its way into the small hand of Ava. She looked at its wonderment as it spun in her palm, its hidden nature revealed through her luminescent touch. So basic in its design, she pondered over how her clever master could not see it with out her help. Perhaps he could. Perhaps he was testing her again. She loved his tests.

So much to learn.

"Ava, do get on with it." Megabyte watched as the curiosity raged in the child's eyes. That curiosity could be he undoing. "I don't have all cycle."

"Yes, Lord Megabyte." Ava watched her master for a short moment, that to her took up an infinite amount of her fast processing time. She smiled at how much one could learn within a single glance, or the tone of a voice. She returned her eyes back to the object as it floated above her palm within a containment of yellow and green rays of light. Everything had its secrets. It was only a matter of unlocking the code that bound them. Her smile widened. Unlocking codes was her specialty, what she was programmed to do. The basic nature of the command in her palm only took a quick turning of the correct password key to reveal what was hidden within. 

Guardian.

As she unlocked it, she found herself lingering on the password for a moment, almost hesitating. Something in that word sparked something deep within her files that she thought long choked by the viral vines that encased every fiber of her program. Whatever it had been, the spark was quickly lost to the curious child as her master cleared his throat in a loss of patience. The file command dissipated into a lightshow of pixels. The secret that had lay within now stood before the virus in a stunned silence.

"How nice of you to drop in, Enzo." Megabyte chuckled at the perfect timing of the boy's blunder.

*****

"Did someone call a .cab file?" Ray smirked down to Matrix as he flew overhead on Baud. 

"Its about time you showed up." Matrix had quickly grown sick of waiting.

"Well nice to see you too." Ray put his hand on his hip as he landed with his usual graceful display. "I suppose you'll be swimming back to the diner?" 

"I'd rather swim than get on that thing with you." Matrix pointed to Baud.

"Suits me just fine, mate." Ray huffed. "Don't need someone with a null up their ascii bringing my mood down, anyhow." 

"Why you cocky son of batch file." Matrix glared at the insult. "I'd rather swim than owe an arrogant, womanizing, fly-boy any favors!"

"What? Womanizing!" Ray matched Matrix's glare as his hand formed into a tight fist. "I think I've put up with just about enough of your hate-the-net attitude. If your going to be that way, fine! Just quit bringing everyone down with you, including AndrAIa." 

"You just crossed the line, surfer." Matrix gruffed out in an angry tone to match the glowing red of his right eye. His muscles tensed as his hand went for Gun.

"Can't I leave you two alone for a few nanos?" Bob sighed as he approached arguing pair. 

"No!" They both shouted at Bob in unison. 

"Fine." Bob raised his hands in defense to the two. "Just leave it for later. We've got things to take care of." 

"Fine." The two sighed. Bob shook his head as he looked between the two. It was almost as if they enjoyed fighting with each other, like a way to keep the other's guard up, to keep that defensive edge. If it wasn't for the apparent seriousness of their fights, Bob might have been inclined to laugh at them. 

"Good, because we still have to wait for Mouse to reach the diner. I want confer with Dot before we make any moves." Bob hoped they could keep the peace until then.

******

It was a strange, yet hauntingly familiar, thing to see the sectors of Mainframe so quiet and still. It felt as if they were back during the times of Megaframe. That memory caused a small shudder to make its way up the spine of the strong willed hacker. That shiver caused her to laugh slightly. Maybe she was getting a little soft in the system after all. Usually that hint of attachment would be her cue to move on. Now it seemed she had waited too long to leave, and she found herself unwilling to take such a step, at least not for a permanent leave of absence. She had duties here now, a purpose beyond hacking, and she had friends. Friends that had grown closer to her than she ever thought possible. She had vowed on that second so long ago to never let anyone get that close, to never really trust or deem someone a friend again. It had cost so much the last time. Now, however, she was finding it ever harder to keep that promise to herself. This small system had caused her to question a great deal about herself. She was part of something much bigger than herself now, and for the first time in a long time, she felt complete. 

"Complete is far from what this system is at the moment, honey." She laughed at her own comment to herself as she flew her ship over the silent and detached sectors of the system. She knew exactly what the virus was doing now. She had seen it before. Divide and conquer. 

"Mouse!" Dot ran outside of the diner as Mouse's ship landed out front. "Thank the user." 

"User had nothing to do with it, sugah." Mouse gave Dot a smile as she stepped out of the rear hatch. "You can thank Bob."

"Oh really?" Dot had to smile at that. "Remind me to personally thank him next time I see him." 

"Here ya go." Mouse tossed Dot an extra com-chip from her ship they entered the diner. 

"Thanks." Dot looked over it for a moment before connecting it to her planner. She also owed Mouse for giving her the idea of running her planner off of a separate energy source after the system crash. After a few adjustments, the connection was complete. "Bob? Bob come in!"

******

"Oh would you two just shut down for five nanos!" Much to Bob's surprise, Matrix and Ray had been able to keep the peace for a while, but as the wait for communications dragged on, they had begun to degrade each other's nerves again. They had been arguing for the past half a millisec. It was beginning to degrade Bob's nerves as well. 

"Would love to, mate, if the jolly green giant over there would quit flicking rocks at Baud. Ouch!" Ray flinched as Matrix hit Baud with another piece of debris.

"Aww, does that hurt?" Matrix smirked as he picked up a rather large chunk of ground to toss.

"Matrix…" Bob sighed.

"Aw, c'mon Bob, " Matrix set the rock down. "he started it."

"Did you loose your memory chip along with your processor?" Ray huffed. "As I recall, you started it with that remark on…"

"Ray.." Bob rolled his eyes as he ran a hand through his hair.

"Bob? Bob come in." Dot's voice brought the argument to an end. 

"Thank the User." Bob smiled and looked down at Dot's image on Glitch's view screen. "You have no idea how relieved I am to hear your voice."

"I think I have some idea." Dot smiled warmly at him before letting her command.com protocol take over. "Megabyte has certainly outdone himself this time."

"No kidding." Bob chuckled lightly. 

"Its obvious he wants to run the old 'divide and conquer' file." Matrix knew this strategy well from many of the games he had played. 

"Exactly." Dot nodded. "And we are going to go along with it." 

"Say again?" Ray raised an eyebrow. 

"Are you sure you want us to stay split up, Dot?" Bob could see a plan weaving its way through her eyes. He had to admit how much he loved that look. 

"I need us to divide up into teams." Dot nodded. "We need to use some of the teams to distract Megabyte."

"You mean let him hunt us." Ray clarified. 

"Yes." Dot nodded. 

"And the other teams?" Matrix questioned. 

"They are going to go after the source of Megabyte's upper hand." Dot responded. "As soon as we are able to get the sectors re-docked, Megabyte will loose his advantage. At the same time, we will regain control of the Principle Office."

"How are we going to get the P.O. back with Ava in control?" Bob wasn't looking forward to the answer.

"We…" Dot paused, not liking the answer herself. But it was their only option. "we will have to disable Ava…by any means necessary."

"You want us to delete her!" Ray blinked. "You cant just delete the kid!"

"She's not a kid." Matrix gruffed. "She's a dangerous program that was never meant to be what she is, and now she is viral." 

"How can you even consider it, you blank-filed brute!" Ray clinched his fist. 

"Look." Matrix shook his head. "I don't like it anymore than you do, but if it has to be done, then it has to be done.

"Dot, are you sure?" Bob tilted his head as he eyed her through Glitch's view screen.

"Deletion of her Program is a last option, but it may be the only way." Dot lowered her eyes. "She was created by a game malfunction. Maybe it just wasn't meant to be, Bob."

"Its alright, Dot." Bob sighed. "You're always the one to make the hard decisions."

"Its my function." Dot shrugged before slowly drawing her eyes back up to the Guardian. "It sure doesn't make it any easier."

"Well, easy or not, you can count this Interface out." Ray refused to take part in the deletion of a new version of Interface, mistake or not.

"There may be another way." Bob closed his eyes in thought for a moment. "Dot, I need you to trust me."

"Always." Dot nodded, but became disturbed by the look on Bob's face.

"Earlier I spoke with Turbo." Bob opened his eyes to face her.

"I remember." Dot nodded slowly again. 

"I asked him and a small team of Guardians to come to Mainframe to help me deal with Megabyte, once and for all." Bob waited for her reaction.

"What about your beliefs against deletion?" Dot blinked, stunned by his words. She looked back as Mouse cursed. 

"Those ideals still apply, Dot." Bob shook his head as the memories of the last few cycles passed through his mind. "Just not to him, not anymore. I gave him too many chances, and it has cost this system way to much."

"So your going to just let Turbo walk in and wreck the place with his deletion team?" Mouse walked into the view screen with a dark glare in her eyes. 

"He has promised to do things our way and follow our orders." Bob saw something in Mouse's eyes that disturbed him greatly.

"I heard promises like that from him before, sugah." Mouse darkened her glare. 

"I know what he did to you in the Web Wars, Mouse." Bob sighed.

"This goes way before the Web Wars, Bob." Mouse shook her head. 

"How do you mean, luv?" Ray looked over Bob's shoulder to view Mouse. Her face changed with his question, as if her mind had journeyed to some place Mouse never wanted to go again. 

"Never you mind." Mouse refused to let her mind go to that place in her memories. "I just think it's a bad idea."

"We may need him, Mouse." Dot stepped back into view. "He may be able to help us avoid deletion of Ava." 

"Then I have your ok, Dot?" Bob had a strange feeling growing in the pit of his stomach from Mouse's reaction, but Dot was right. He may be theirs, and Ava's, only hope.

"Yes, Bob." Dot sighed. "I will have whomever he brings in the teams that are to keep Megabyte occupied. Mouse, Turbo, you, and I, will head to the P.O. Matrix, you and Ray will help the Guardians occupy Megabyte's time. AndrAIa and Enzo will be needed to help keep everyone at the evacuation sites calm and safe. Have you located Enzo yet?"

"Not yet." Bob frowned. 

"We've got company!" Matrix pointed up as an ABC approached their location.

"How is that thing still processing?" Ray blinked as the ABC landed. 

"Megabyte must be using the emergency energy cells we have stock piled in the P.O." Mouse frowned. Megabyte had yet another upper hand in this. 

"Gun!" Matrix called out and Gun flew to his hand. He pointed it strait at the ABC's hatch as it lowered to the ground. His finger eased back on the trigger, waiting to shoot anything that came out of that door. 

"Bob!" Enzo ran out of the hatch door in a dead run for the Guardian. He tackled him to the ground as Matrix lowered his gun with a bewildered look. "Bob! You wont believe it! Mega-breath has all kinds of these things on self power! He capture me and Hack and Slash and tried to…well...but Hack and Slash…and then I got loose…but Hack and Slash…then I found this ABC still possessing…and then…"

"Woah!" Bob wondered how that kid breathed sometimes. "Slow down. Are you alright?"

"Ya, I'm fine." Enzo lowered his head. "I'm real sorry Bob. I know I shouldn't have run off. Its just, I felt like it was all my fault."

"Just glad you're ok." Dot sighed with relief.

"Oh, hi Sis." Enzo smiled and waved down at Dot's image. 

"How many of those ABC's does he have operational?" Matrix questioned as he looked at the self powered vehicle.

"Too many to count." Enzo shook his head in a shrug. 

"Alright." Dot thought for a moment. "Take the ABC and drop Enzo off at the bunkers to help AndrAIa. There should be a spare self-powered communicator on that ABC. Then meet the rest of us here at the Diner. Bob, call Turbo."

"Yes' ma'am." Bob gave her a small smile.

"Turbo?" Enzo leaned back and gave Dot and Bob a look of confusion.


	5. Thruth of the Trojan Virus

Authors note: Sorry, but i just havnt had that much time for writing this fic lately. I hope to start writing it more often, but i cant make any promises. I apologize to anyone reading it who i leave hanging at the end of a chapter for a while. Anyway, thanks a bunch for reading it! 

**Chapter 5: Truth Behind the Trojan Mask**

A new second was just beginning to break the darkness in Mainframe. It shed light on the once whole system who's sectors now lay in disconnected pieces. Each piece alone, powerless, and left adrift in the energy sea. As the early milliseconds wore on, the white panicle of the Principle Office appeared to be the only object in the system that was still functioning. The rest of the sectors were ghost towns of empty streets and eerie stillness. The only commotion could be found at the bunkers of the CPU forces, and at the temporary command center set up at Dot's Diner.

"Mouse, do you have that system clearance through the firewall established yet?" Dot looked over the hacker's shoulder at the display screen on her ship.

"Ya, its up." Mouse said with a questionably tone. "Still think it's a bad idea though, sugah." 

"I know, Mouse." Dot sighed and walked out the hatch of the ship. "But right now, its all we've got." 

"Here they come." Bob pointed as a portal appeared on the street outside of the diner. 

"Then I'm just in time." Matrix patted Gun as he stepped away from the ABC they had taken. 

"How's Enzo?" Dot took her eyes away from the portal for a moment.

"He's fine." Matrix shrugged slightly. "AndrAIa was glad to have the help. There's a lot of work to be done at the bunkers. Should keep him busy and out of trouble."

"Good." Dot turned back to the portal as Turbo flew out on a hover craft, followed by four other guardians. By the markings on their uniforms, Dot knew exactly who Turbo had brought with him. They were the Prime Deletion Team. The sight caused her to take Mouse's words into deep consideration. "Turbo, welcome to Mainframe." 

"Hello, Miss Matrix." Turbo sighed slightly as he and the other guardians dismounted from the hover crafts. The portal vanished behind them as Mouse reestablished the firewall. "I wish we didn't have to keep meeting under these types of circumstances."

"As do I." Dot surveyed the Prime Guardian and his tone of sincerity. It was clear that the past battles with Daemon had left him tired and run down slightly. He appeared tired, but the air of command remained about him. 

"Turbo." Bob nodded slightly at Turbo. 

"Hello, Bob." Turbo added a small smile to his greeting. "I'm glad you finally came to your senses on this matter." 

"We'll see." Bob stated with a slight mystery to his statement. 

"Yes." Turbo nodded, understanding the underlined meaning. "Well, I've brought the best of my team." He sighed slightly. Really, it was what was left of the best of his team. "This is Bret, Trax, Zen, and Marell. "

"Hello." Bob surveyed them as they stepped forward to nod a small greeting. Bret was large orange sprite of Matrix's build. He stood what a calm and silent gaze. The light green sprite Trax was the exact opposite. Short, thin, and fidgety with an eerie smile that gave the inclination that he was more than a little happy to be on the deletion team. Zen was obviously the youngest, and the inexperience of his lack of years in the Collective stuck out like a sore thumb. His ashen white face wore a look of nervousness. Marell stood out from the rest in a way that Bob just couldn't place at first. Her yellow skin reminded him of Ava, but the look in her eyes brought a deep seeded chill to his files. 

"Bob…" Turbo raised an eyebrow at the look on Bob's face, then realized who he was looking at. He sighed heavily, reconsidering his choice in team members. "Bob, I'm sorry, I should have told you first who I was bringing."

"What is it, Bob?" Dot placed a hand on Bob shoulder and looked over Marell. 

"Bob, this is Marell." Turbo paused slightly to let Bob sink it all in. "Marell Green." 

"Its nice to finally meet you." Marell offered Bob no smile in her greeting. "Dixon spoke well of you before the accident." Her tone of voice in the last of her sentence gave no truth to the word 'accident'.

"Thank you." Bob shook his head clear, hiding his slightly shaking hands behind his back. He looked to Turbo before turning sharply to walk away. "Turbo, a word inside….please."

"Of course." Turbo nodded and started to follow him inside. A strong grip on his arm jolted him to the side. The glaring face of the hacker met his surprised look. 

"I'll only give you this warn'n once, Prime Guardian." Mouse hissed quietly through clinched teeth. 

"Mouse, I know what you're thinking, and its not going to happen like…" 

"Once, Prime Guardian." She hissed again before letting go of the tight grip on his arm. She stormed into her ship and disappeared into the cockpit. Turbo cleared his throat, hating the show she had put on in front of those he was in command of. Without another word, he disappeared into the diner, leaving the rest outside to get acquainted with each other. 

******

"I know what you're going to say, Bob." Turbo said as he closed the door to the diner.

"No, you don't." Bob shook his head and leaned back on the bar, a weary look in his usually youthful-spirited eyes. "I'm not going to say you were right about everything, but on this Turbo, you were."

"You mean the whole Megabyte experiment ordeal?" Turbo raised an eyebrow.

"Ya." Bob let out a deep chested sigh. "It took me long enough to realize it. I'm not saying my theories are wrong, just that maybe I was too hasty to apply them to all viruses." 

"Bob…" Turbo looked at the young Guardian for some time, taking note of how much he had appeared to age over the short hours that had passed. "Your theories were good." 

"What?" Bob looked up with surprise. "But you always went against them."

"I had to Bob." Turbo pointed at his Prime Guardian insignia. "In a way I still do. Slowly, though, your ideas are becoming more popular, especially among the newer students. Why do you think I allowed Megabyte to stay in this system for so long without bringing in my team?"

"Because I asked nicely?" Bob let the small joke pass between them.

"Because your theories were showing promise, at least with one half." Turbo rubbed his chin as he thought.

"Hexadecimal." Bob nodded with a small grimace of sadness making its way across his tired face. "I had hoped for so long that Megabyte would show the same improvements."

"And now?" Turbo hated to see the kid's dreams dashed, but he wanted to hear it from him.

"Now…" Bob's face contorted to one of anger. "He has worn out his welcome, and worn out my nice-guy patience." The guardian shook his head and turned away from Turbo, leaning heavily on the bar and looking at his reflection in its metallic surface. "I still cant believe he did what he did." 

"He's a virus, Bob." Turbo was unsure of what to say in light of the fragile balance of Bob's emotional state. He knew Bob was hiding more than his weariness. "A virus of the worst kind. Now that he's back from the Web, he seems content to feed off of the pain he causes everyone around him. I don't think he'll stop until he has truly destroyed everything he can. Its not your fault, Bob. You couldn't have known." 

"It is my fault, Turbo…Don't you see!" Bob turned toward Turbo with a look of deep anguish. "This system didn't deserve this! Dot and her family didn't deserve all of this. They should have had a real Guardian who would have gotten rid of that virus in the beginning. Not me! They didn't deserve to be pawns in my search for theoretical acknowledgment! No one did!" 

"That's not how it is, Bob." Turbo sighed, wondering if Bob was right in a way. "You didn't let him hurt them on purpose. I know you care for them, and you were right about Hexadecimal. If we had dealt with this system the normal way, she would have been deleted immediately, and Daemon would have destroyed the entire net!" 

"I know…" Bob lower his head and turned away from Turbo. "But all the sacrifices they've made."

"We've all made mistakes, Bob. Made choices we regret. Which is why we have to end this here and now." Turbo placed a hand on Bob's shoulder. "And we will. I promise."

"Alright." Bob nodded, deciding it was time to put and end to his episode of emotional regrets. Regrets always seemed to come to late to be of any use. "Now, about Marell."

"I am sorry I didn't tell you, Bob." Turbo sighed. "But she's one of the best I've got right now." 

"Plus she has a vendetta against Megabyte." Bob said what Turbo was unwilling to. 

"Don't worry, she will follow orders." Turbo reassured him.

"I hope your right." Bob was still not looking forward to working with his deceased partner's sister. Bob raise his eyebrow at another point that had been bugging him. "And the deal with Mouse? She said it wasn't about the Web Wars."

"Well that…" Turbo looked at Bob for a moment. His eyes seemed to hold a distant memory of pain before he turned them away and started out of the door. "Lets just say its one of those regretted choices I mentioned earlier." 

*******

"How's it going, kiddo?" AndrAIa smiled down at Enzo as he sat watching the repairs going on in the bunkers. 

"Complete boredom." Enzo sighed heavily. 

"I'm sorry, Enzo." AndrAIa seemed truly concerned for his being stuck in the bunkers. "What about giving me a hand?" 

"Sure! Anything but just sitting here! What is it?" Enzo hopped off of the crate.

"I need to get some more reserve energy cells from the storage area." AndrAIa laughed at his frown. "I know its not incredibly exciting, but those boxes are kind of heavy. The storage bunker is also dark, so I need some one to protect me if any virals show up!" 

"Really." Enzo got a strange smirk on his face for a split nano before clearing his throat and standing up strait. "Don't worry AndrAIa, I'll protect you!" 

"Good." AndrAIa laughed. "Lead the way, oh mighty one." 

"Ok!" Enzo smiled with pride before a small frown came to his lips. "I don't know the way."

"Alright." AndrAIa giggled. "I'll lead the way. You just make sure you watch my back."

"Yes ma'am." Enzo saluted her with a bright smile that soon turned to a dark glare as she turned her back to him.

********

She stood in complete stillness, looking over the new object in this dark domain. Her master had brought her a present. Something new to study, observe, and learn from. The new present had been sleeping soundly, his mind in some distant darkness of its own. How she wished she could go to that darkness with him and understand all the sensations he was feeling. If he was feeling anything at all. That thought caused a small perplexed look to wrinkle Ava's forehead as she kept her vigil over the small sprite's body. 

"Is he alright?" Wellman peered out from his containment unit. 

"I do not know." Ava giggled with a strange quality to her voice. What a silly question the null had asked her. How was she to know. The present was breathing. "He is still functioning." 

"Can you let me out, so that I can check?" Wellman tried to speak to the child who seemed beyond all sense of logic.

"No." Ava giggled again. Another silly question from the little creature that never seemed to stop talking. She was well aware that the null knew that if she let him out, her master would be angry. Perhaps it was another test. Perhaps her master had told the null to test her. Ava's smile widened. She loved her master's tests. 

"I think he is waking up." Wellman was happy to see movement from the small sprite.

"Oh." Ava left her drifting thoughts and slid her hand down the transparent surface of the containment unit. Her eye's widened in wonderment as her master's present offered her more things to observe. He was waking up. She put her face as close to his as the glass would allow and offered him a large smile from her blue lips. 

"What….where…" Enzo struggled to push out the hazy fog in his mind. As his eyes focused and fell on a pair of viral green eyes on a face that they didn't belong, he sat up strait to take in his surroundings. 

"Hello, Enzo." Ava placed one of her hands against the glass. "Would you like to play a game?" 

********

"Clean up crew to the storage bunker at once." AndrAIa's voice spoke the words with so much of his tone, it was impossible to deny that it wasn't really AndrAIa at all. "I have something I want you to add to my collection at the Principle Office." 

"Yes Ma'am…, sir!…..Lord Megabyte Sir!" The viral binome took a moment to process that it was his viral lord in the eyes of the game sprite on the other end of the communicator. 

"According to the fish, we also have new visitors in my system." Megabyte looked down at AndrAIa who lay unconscious at his feet. Becoming Bob had been one thing, Enzo quite similar…but something about being female slightly bothered him. He shrugged the feeling off and wondered how well he could pass off for her. With a dark smile across the female lips of the encoded mask he wore, Megabyte turned back to the binome. "Please give our guests their deserved welcome." 

"Yes Sir!" The binome saluted again before turning off the communication. 

"Now…" Megabyte peered at his reflection in the metallic surface of a CPU side panel. Being AndrAIa was very peculiar indeed. With a deep breath and an arrogant smirk, he put one hand on his hip and did his best to look like the vixen in sheep's clothing he took her to be. A small laugh made its way past the lips in AndrAIa's voice. AndrAIa winked at her reflection, Megabyte's viral code becoming fully enveloped in its Trojan-horse capabilities. "Lets go have some fun."

*********


	6. Where did AvA Go?

Where did AvA-181 go?

Hello everyone! It has been quite a few years since I updated any of my Shadow Raiders or ReBoot fanfics or added anything new.

I have been through a whirlwind of changes in my life, including moving to another country, getting married and becoming a published Science Fiction author.

The ReBoot and Shadow Raiders fandom universe will always hold a special place in my heart because it helped to inspire me and lead me down the path to creating my own universe for my book series. I currently have one book in the series published on Amazon, a free short story on my website and the next book is in progress, due to be published in March of 2013.

To learn more about my current publications, you can visit my website: cekilgore . com

I also would love to hear from you through google+, facebook or twitter. There are links to my accounts on my website. I would love to hear what you all have been up too for the past few years.

Cheers!

AvA-181 ( C.E. Kilgore )


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